“It began with the Christmas tree lights. They were candy-bright, mouth-size. She wanted to feel the lightness of them on her tongue, the spark on her tastebuds. Without him life was so dark, and al...”

“The graces are restless today. They pweet and muss, shuddering their wings so that the feathers stick out at defensive angles. I feel that restlessness too. When the sea is fractious like this whe...”

“Once upon a time there was an empress, trapped as a ghost in the ruins of a jewelled palace, cursed to find another soul to take her place. At least, that's what the empress heard. But, as it turne...”

“I met Baba Yaga at the end of childhood past pigtails and fairytales, but not quite ready to give up on make-believe.”

“She used to be all right, Una, when we were kids. I liked that she wasn't fussed about her antlers.”

“Walking out of the office, her nervous fingers made an ear out of the tissue in her pocket luckily the thin sheets wouldn't hold the shape, and unfurled as she threw it on the pavement. On the jou...”

“Forever and ever, kid, until you're sick and tired of seeing me.”

“Falling into ruin was a bit like falling in love: Both descents stripped you bare and left you as you were at your core. And both endings are equally painful.”

“Never hold resentments for the person who tells you what you need to hear; count them among your truest, most caring, and valuable friends.”

“I have given my word that only death will take me from you.”

“If we stood close to each other, side by side, as true brothers and sisters, then evil would not know how to stand between us.”

“Yet even in the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brother's keepers," ...”

“work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.”

“Happiness [is] only real when shared”

“That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable.”