But they smile agreeably until a publicist drags them across the room to a video crew, where a reporter shoves a microphone in their faces.

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Surprisingly, the conceit of looking down from heaven works nicely, since Ms Sebold avoids the precious, making Susie's paradise agreeably ordinary, a place where the dead learn to let go of the living while below the living learn to let go of the dead.

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And if that were to happen, the map of Central Europe might become still more agreeably blurry.

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