“I opened my mouth to exclaim about the puppies. They were beauty and joy and innocence made of flesh and fur, in an ugly time when fear and sadness and mistrust hung over the world like a sickly green tornado sky.”

“I had become conscious of my physicality, aware of my presence and open to the ugly truths of the world. At the age of thirteen, I realised that there was a danger in innocence and beauty, and I could not live with both.”

“Was your mom a gardener?' I asked innocently. 'What?' Ren’s mouth hung open slightly.'Because a face like yours belongs planted on the ground.”

“What she had long believed was not true, and now the world was wide open to discover what was.It is like all my life I thought the sky was green.”

“I was a hundred-percent sick, I felt as if I had no further use for my legs, they just hung over the edge of my bed like unimportant and rather ridiculous objects.”

“Sometimes from this hillside just after sunset The rim of the sky takes on a tinge Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber When you peel it carefully.”