First Sentence

"I began writing about my mother, little sketches for myself, and largely about myself, in 1985 when my elder sister, Sally-a lifetime sibling rival and always a critic of considerable acumen, older and wiser and more practical in so many departments of life through her training in political history, diplomacy and international relations, her practice in law and banking-forced me to pay attention and understand that our mother Helen Millett could actually die and indeed was old and recently ill enough to do so certainly, and perhaps soon."