“Other people sound flat to my ear; their words just hang in the air. But when my mother says something, the ends curl.”

“My mother is from Cairo, Georgia. This makes everything she says sound like it went through a curling iron. ”

“Novalee watched his lips shape the words...the sounds, like whispered secrets, hanging in the air.”

“I wanted to scream as I stood there, my toes hanging over the edge of the dock. I wanted to let a gut-wrenching howl rip from my disfigured throat toward those clouded skies. I wanted to say every swear word my mother had ever taught me not to say.I would have settled for a cut-off whimper, just as long as some kind of sound came from my lips.”

“What's that sound I hear? It's just my lifetimeIt's whistling past my ear”

“Another tug and a yank at my chestnut curls and she snarls at me, “You are so much like her.”This is something my mother often says and never explains. Though it is a great mystery to me it is also a blessing, for she always hurries from the room after saying it.”