“What are we all chasing? Nella wonders. To live, of course. To be unbound from the invisible ropes that Johannes spoke of in his study. Or to be happy in them, at least.”

“You are a stone, thrown upon a lake. But the ripples you create will never make you still.”

“This city is like no other city in the world. It is brilliant but it is bloated, and I've never called it home”

“The turnip cannot thrive in the tulips patch of soil.”

“The rules of this house are written in water. I must either sink or swim.”

“Because, Petronella - it's something in his soul. It's something in his soul and you can't get it out.”

“I was happy, but happy is an adult word. You don't have to ask a child about happy, you see it. They are or they are not. Adults talk about being happy because largely they are not. Talking about i...”

“Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be r...”

“I walked over to the hill where we used to go and sled. There were a lot of little kids there. I watched them flying. Doing jumps and having races. And I thought that all those little kids are goin...”