“Every girl should have at least one wild fling on her resumé.”

“What was the point of starting a new life if she did everything the same as her old one?”

“You just don't expect to see gunfire at a wedding.”

“I don't know. I suppose I should have had a better idea of what I was letting myself in for. Still, the first murder – the farmer – seemed to have been so simple, a dropped stone falling to the lakebed with scarcely a ripple. The second one was also easy, at least at first, but I had no inkling how different it would be. What we took for a docile, ordinary weight (gentle plunk, swift rush to the bottom, dark waters closing over it without a trace) was in fact a depth charge, one that exploded quite without warning beneath the glassy surface, and the repercussions of which may not be entirely over, even now.”

“There were plenty of girls at school prettier than Harriet, and nicer. But none of them were as smart, or as brave. How could he make her love him, make her notice when he wasn't there?”

“She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still”

“At then end of this experiment we call Alice's childhood, I imagine if she's as eager to move ahead with her passions as the graduates I'd just met, and as fond of her family as these kids seemed to be of theirs, I'll have my answer.”