“Miss B. says, "It's a mama's faith what keeps her children right. I'm not talkin' 'bout the churchgoin' kind, neither. Miss Mabel's got faith in goodness. Tell me you can't help but believe in it too just by lookin' at her.”

“Standing in front of the girl's house, Mama yelled up at the windows, "Katie Adams, you whore, give me my husband back!" When Miss Adams' neighbours complained about all the noise Mama was making, my father came down to quiet her. He kissed her until she cried, but didn't come home.”

“Aunt Fran lowered her voice. "Her cold is just the start of a greater sickness. These 'stories,' as you call them, will only lead her to more pain.""Fran, talk plain, will you?""I'm talking about derangement.""Don't be silly!"She wispered. "And deviant behaviours.”

“If women lose the right to say where and how they birth their children, then they will have lost something that's as dear to life as breathing.”

“How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that's made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead ... that's the miracle.”

“No matter what you do, someone always knew you would.”

“What do you want? Love. Well, love gets what she wants one way or another.”