“Not long ago, two children in Great Park made a quest: a boy who sought a way to talk through the thing he dreaded most and a girl who feared she had lost the One she loved the most. And together they discovered the Kingdom within and without, which all do, who have the courage to make the quest.”

“There are countless reasons for reading, but when you’re young and uncertain of your identity, of who you may be, one of the most compelling is the quest to discover yourself reflected in the pages of a book.”

“Joanna. Remember Joanna. Francie could never forget her. From that time on, remembering the stoning women, she hated women. She feared them for their devious ways, she mistrusted their instincts. She began to hate them for this disloyalty and their cruelty toward each other. Of all the stone-throwers, not one had dared to speak a word for the girl for fear that she would be tarred with Joanna's brush...Most women had one thing in common: they had great pain when they gave birth to their children. This should make a bond that held them together; it should make them love and protect each other against the man-world. But it was not so.”

“It is love which made all this. War which protects it. With love comes responsibility and possibility, fear and hopes, quests and suffering.”

“But do you know what happens to girls who love lost boys? They become lost themselves. Without fail.”

“She did not hate Clent for the way he had spoken. For most of her life she had been at the mercy of stronger and more powerful people who cared nothing for her. She had always been afraid, and her fear had made her angry.”