“She leaped into space, high, higher than she'd ever been in her life. She came down with a clean snap, and the crowd scattered like birds from the swing of her feet.”

“It came to Mary now that her mother had been right, after all; Mary had been born for this. In sixteen years she'd shot along the shortest route she could find between life and death, as the crow flew.”

“Their next reunion shifted like an oasis on the horizon, and Jude couldn't plot her course. She trudged through her days, haunted by the feeling that real life was happening five thousand kilometers away.”

“And the flames are every colour of the rainbow.""They can't be," observed Daffy."Well, they are," she said cheekily. "Have you been there, that you know so much about it?""No," said Daffy, very calm, "but I'd wager I know more than you about the chemical processes of combustion."Mary rolled her eyes. Did he hope to dazzle her with syllables?”

“In the yard of the inn, Daffy Cadwaladyr introduced himself. "Short for Davyd," he said pleasantly.The Londoner looked as if she'd never heard a sillier name in her life.”

“She was with Jude so rarely that when she was, every cell of her body rang with grateful knowledge of it.”

“What started Baby Jesus growing in Mary's tummy was an angel zoomed down, like a ghost but a really cool one with feathers. Mary was all surprised, she said, "How can this be?" and then, "OK let it be." When Baby Jesus popped out of her vagina on Christmas she put him in a manger but not for the cows to chew, only to warm him up with their blowing because he was magic.”