“Someone was playing the piano and, as she concentrated, Olivia realised she recognised Chopin's 'Grande Polonaise'. She stood up and left the library, following the direction of the music, letting her auditory senses lead her eventually to the doorway of the drawing room. She stood where she was, listening to the exquisite rendition of one of her favourite pieces, closing her eyes as the sound emanated from the piano at the other end of the room. (...) Olivia gasped in astonishment when she saw it was Harry.”

“Because -' she looked up at Bill and gave him a smile that lit up her face, granting him a sudden flash of her true beauty - 'love never die, Mister Bill. It never die.”

“Besides, she had survived the searingly hot nights, when sleep was rendered impossible, by reading a miasma of English novels by Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. They had served to fire her belief that 'true love' would one day be found.”

“Julia played for them: for her husband and her beloved son. And tried to believe somewhere in her heart that, wherever they were, they could hear her.”

“She pulled off Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse and settled down in a comfortable leather chair by the fire to read.”

“In all honesty Phoebe never actually gave much thought to being Kevin's girlfriend. She fell into their relationship the way others fall asleep at the wheel. She hadn't known guys could be that sweet. Or maybe it hadn't occurred to her before that she might be attracted to someone who didn't treat her like a mild irritant. And he told her he loved her. Moreover, there were tines when she thought she loved Kevin, too. Though what she probably loved even more than Kevin was the idea of someone being in love with her. It seemed like a radical notion. It seemed like the "real thing”

“She had a thing for cocky assholes. When they expressed interest in her it seemed meaningful. When nice guys hit on her, she had trouble caring. ”