“Madrére Sybille, an elder of the Sistéria, is speaking to twenty-four year old Sistére Graice:Sybille – I won’t lecture you but twenty-four is still young. Age brings experience and . . Graice – And wisdom? That’s just what old people say.”

“George is a goblin who looks like a young boy. He is explaining to his friend Lout, an ogre, that he’s really older than he seems - - -“My people grow slowly and I’ve been around longer than you think. I’m very mature for my age. I have a doctorate degree from Oxford in Medieval Literature,” said George.“Is Oxford really in this story?” asked Lout.“I should have said Oxxphord.”“That sounds better. I’m really impressed, George. With an education like that, you could get a great job.”“Yeah, that’s how I ended up as a stable boy.”

“Well, runhh it all to harr,” Rafe grumbled. “Why does bein’ the nice guys always cause us so much trouble?”

“So Old Man Date Rape was number what?" she asks. "Four or five?""We're not counting him," I say. "This is the Twenty Boy Summer, not the Twenty Dirty Old Man Summer.”

“Cortez looked like someone newly in love, the way only twenty-four-year-olds can look.”

“At twenty-four she imagined with dread that she was growing old.”

“Twenty-four year olds were my new favourite thing. I needed to tell Oprah to put them on her list.”