I have written Life Stories virtually in the space of one breath ?these stories have been imagined in such concentration, that I had to free myself from them. They came so naturally, that I am very happy to have returned to the short-story format. It seems to me that in these eight stories each individual and different life is so strikingly intense that it was not possible to place all into one novel ?Also in terms of style, I searched and found a different approach to each of the stories. I wanted to express myself more clearly and more simply. ?Nora Ikstena