“When a woman gives birth her waters break and she pours out the child and the child runs free.”

“She arches her body like a cat on a stretch. She nuzzles her cunt into my face like a filly at the gate. She smells of the sea. She smells of rockpools when I was a child. She keeps a starfish in there. I crouch down to taste the salt, to run my fingers around the rim. She opens and shuts like a sea anemone. She's refilled each day with fresh tides of longing.”

“Tell me the story, Pew. . . .It was a woman.You always say that.There's always a woman somewhere, child; a princess, a witch, a stepmother, a mermaid, a fairy godmother, or one as wicked as she is beautiful, or as beautiful as she is good. Is that the complete list?Then there is the woman you love.Who's she?That's another story.”

“Our broken society is not born out of the triumph of the individual, but out of his effacement. He vanishes, she vanishes, ask them who they are and they will offer you a wallet or a child.”

“Don't regret your life, child, it will pass soon enough.”

“When my mother heard about this, she was furious, and she crossed Nellie off her prayer list. My dad put her on his instead, so she didn't miss out.”

“He doubted her. You must never doubt the one you love.But they might not be telling the truth.Never mind that. You tell them the truth.What do you mean?You can't be another person's honesty, child, but you can be your own.So what should I say?When?When I love someone?You should say it.”