“The raw honesty and the gritty lyricism of any song by Lucinda Williams hotwires me to the ugly beauty of hearts in conflict. Although I don’t listen to music while I’m writing, I listen to it a good deal when I’m done with the page for the day. When I wrote my most recent novel, Break the Skin, I frequently listened to Williams’s song, ‘World Without Tears.’ That song doesn’t flinch in the face of suffering—admits its necessity, even, while celebrating people’s limitless capacity for hope. It took me to my characters and made me want to respond with narrative. The right music often provides that sort of call and response for me.”
—Lee Martin, author of Break the Skin (Crown, 2011)