for siriaeve

[ursula]

If we ever lived in the same place-- which seems improbable, but not utterly impossible-- I think we could build a solid friendship by lending each other books, yearning at one another's collections, wandering through bookshops . . . Have you read R.A. MacAvoy's Book of Kells? That's the book I would begin by lending you, because your comments on Stephen Maturin make me think that Derval might interest you, and because all the four friends in that story are people I can imagine you talking to.