“She had had the pain; it had been like being boiled alive in scalding oil and not being able to die to get free of it”

“She had become accustomed to being lonely. She was used to walking alone and to being considered 'different.' She did not suffer too much.”

“Francie of course became an outsider shunned by all because of her stench. But she had grown accustomed to being lonely. She was used to walking alone and being considered different. She did not suffer to much.”

“She was surprised at how tiny the school seemed now. She supposed it was just as big as it had ever been only her eyes had grown used to looking at bigger things.”

“Mother! Katie remembered. She had called her own mother "mama" until the day she had told her that she was going to marry Johnny. She had said, "Mother, I'm going to marry..." She had never said "mama" after that. She had finished growing up when she stopped calling her mother “mama.” Now Francie…”

“The library was a little old shabby place. Francie thought it was beautiful. The feeling she had about it was as good as the feeling she had about church. She pushed open the door and went in. She liked the combined smell of worn leather bindings, library past and freshly inked stamping pads better than she liked the smell of burning incense at high mass.”

“It was a good thing that she got herself into this other school. It showed her that there were other worlds beside the world she had been born into and that these other worlds were not unattainable.”