'Oh, that's good,' she said, and we lay on our backs, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand looking up at the ceiling, and we could not see the ceiling because the room was pitch black, and the sofa bed so small that she was squashed against the wall, and my left leg dangled over the edge. And then I started to tell the story from where we had stopped the last time we were lying here and had to stop because I hadn't read any further, and she told me to hurry and read some more because it was so much better to hear me tell the story than reading it herself, she could see things then, that she did not see when it was light...

- Per Petterson

(Self-portrait)