“Out of gin and tired as hell.”

“Silas was tired of living in a world where everyone and everything held its breath.”

“Sense is the song you sing out into the world, and the song the world sings back to you.”

“For when we read, don’t we summon the past into the present? Hold out our hand and invite an author to sit with us for a time?”

“Right back where you started, she told herself. Right back in the middle of that town. You were out, she told her heartburn. You. Were. Out. Her father once told her that when you leave a place, you should never go back, because no matter what the actual circumstances, it will always look like a retreat, a failure. That was sure how it felt.”

“He could feel her doing that list thing, where she didn’t speak or look at you because she was tallying something in her head. Figuring out how bad you’d messed up.”

“Amos surely left it behind for a reason, and more and more Mrs. Bowe felt she was following a path trod out for her by another. For the time being, she was willing to play the part allotted to her. But she would keep an eye on the boy in her way.”