Vivian Gornick

‘That’s the first step, Ma,’ I say softly. ‘The unhappiness has to be made alive before anything can happen.’

‘I’m saying that nowadays love has to be earned. Even by mothers and sons.’

Not so with Nettie. Her incapacity would have ingratiated her with the women, created a natural opening into their world – ‘Oh, teach me, tell me, is that how you do it, thank you, Mrs Zimmerman-Roseman-Shapiro-Berger, you’re so wise, I’m so ignorant, so glad to learn what you have to teach’ – but she couldn’t do it, didn’t even know where to begin. She felt exposed before the women, remained silent, unconfiding, hiding her need from all of them.