“The Fourth was perfect. She'd make a ceremony, an event, of this. She had a bad habit of never giving ceremony its due. But sometimes life demanded ceremony. Sometimes you owed that to yourself.”

“Madeline knew how that was. So many people had ideas of what you should and shouldn't do, but in the end you had to decide for yourself.”

“You've given her a new lease on life.''She didn't need one. She owns life.”

“She stroked one of the geranium's petals, inhaling its particular bitter fragrance, which she admired for its bold air of unapology.”

“The basket would never make her famous or end up in a museum. The best part of it was the making of it, sitting at the table weaving while outside the lake crashed into shore and the seagulls roosted somewhere for the night and two women stopped for a moment to watch.”

“She hunkered down, stared across the horizon. Felt the vast cold world spread out all around her and was reassured by the impersonality of it. This land--wild and serene, huge, ruthless and gentle by turns, was always unconcerned with her, small Madeline who was a tiny dot on it's landscape for a moment in time.”

“You know, people thought it was so sad that I gave up so much to take care of Emmy, but it wasn't sad. It was love, it was life.”