“Even drunk, I knew any escape plan that involved going to Detroit, Michigan, was a harbinger of doom.”

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.”

“But on that sunlit Sunday, Alexander knew nothing, thought nothing, imagined nothing. He forgot Dimitri and war and the Soviet Union and escape plans, and even America, and crossed the street for Tatiana Metanova.”

“Oh, escape is easy once you have the right plan.''Do we have the right plan?''Not yet.''Do we have any plan?''Not yet.”

“Angels are violent creatures.” “So I noticed. I used to think they were all sweet and kind.” “Why would you think that? Even in your Bible, we’re harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities. Just because we sometimes warned one or two of you beforehand doesn’t make us altruistic.”

“I knew Jo would remember the evening as a success, though the details that created it would escape her.”