“[Christina] wondered if she ought to tell Olivia. She might freak out at first, but that was Olivia’s go-to response for pretty much everything—blind panic.”

“Olivia married sexy Ghandi. No wonder she loves her husband.”

“Olivia was her only beautiful child. Julia, with her dark curls and snub nose, was pretty but her character wasn't, Sylvia --- poor Sylvia, what could you say? And Amelia was somehow ...bland, but Olivia, Olivia was spun from light. It seemed impossible that she was Victor's child, although, unfortunately, there was no doubting the fact. Olivia was the only one she loved, although God knows she tried her best with the others. Everything was from duty, nothing from love. Duty killed you in the end.”

“Would you leave your world for me?" he asks. "I might." she tells him. She wonders how the world ever fell apart with this much love in it.”

“He read disappointment at his response and wondered if she realized that she expected a certain amount of effusive sympathy from the people she told. Rejecting that sympathy made her feel strong, compensating for what she perceived as her weakness. He suspected that the disease was the first time she hadn't been able to make everything come out all right through the sheer determination that it would be.”

“she might have been pretty when she started out, but the world had moved on since then.”