“She was grieving the loss of her youth, the closing down of possibilities as life became what it was rather than what it might have been.”

“Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her feelings appear what they were not. It was necessary to laugh, when she would rather have cried.”

“It is possible to grieve for the loss of a thing even as you are in possession of it. To crave the very thing you have been blessed with.”

“Shewas afraid of getting too close to anyone. To her, closeness representeda loss rather than a gain.”

“For she was a child, throwing bread to the ducks, between her parents who stood by the lake, holding her life in her arms which, as she neared them, grew larger and larger in her arms, until it became a whole life, a complete life, which she put down by them and said, "This is what I have made of it! This!" And what had she made of it? What, indeed?”

“What a failure her life had been. Would she have lied to God if she’d had more faith, been more righteous? How could she possibly have a son at her age? And yet, if she had believed all along . . .”