Talking on Woman’s Hour recently, Nora Ephron explained how her most painful experiences have gone into her work. Her mother, who was also a screenwriter, used to tell her “Everything’s copy.” … It seems that people sometimes like to have their intimate dilemmas presented to them in terms that are slick and witty and bittersweet instead of just bitter.

Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self-…, loc. 375