“As she always did on any really important day, Penelope Hayes wore red.”

“How she wished she had Elizabeth to herself for a little so they could discuss what Henry's real intentions were and also how high and mighty Penelope had acted at lunch and what a tremendous insult it was that she'd come at all and did anyone really think she was beautiful with those oversize features anyway.”

“So this is how life was, she thought with a faint smile: It wore you down until you emerged at its wildest, most unexpected ends.”

“Among her other talents were forgetting what she did not like and ignoring what she preferred not to see.”

“Diana wore a men's bowler with the intials H. W. S. sewn into the lining and an old French army coat.”

“He was just like summer, and she loved summer. If she had any wish, it would be to live a lifetime of summers.”

“That was the way love was, she guessed-it left you always unsteady on your feet.”