“On good days I felt like a chrysalis from which a butterfly had emerged, and on bad days I felt like a chewing-gum wrapper someone had thrown in the hedges.”

“This world is made of darkness and light, my girl, and in the darkest times you have to believe the sun will come again, even if you yourself don't live to see it.”

“Oh Papa. I always felt like I had a hold on things when there was Papa to turn to.”

“I've never felt just like me, just like Alison. I can't be myself in this family because it's more important that I be... this person who's not... Adam. Who's normal. Smart. Good. Who's not... Autistic.”

“The other girls in the village never felt restless. Nhamo was like a pot of boiling water. 'I want...I want...,' she whispered to herself, but she didn't know what she wanted and she had no idea how to find it. ”

“That was until two nights later when we kissed, and it felt like gravity had let go, and you were a magnet holding me in place. I promised myself I wouldn’t say anything to scare you off, but you need to know that even though I didn’t want to wait three months to see you, I would have waited three years if I had to.”

“She felt her future close upon her but unseen, like the sea behind the blowing veil of snow... She would follow Llyr's advice and face it a little every day...Day by day, step by step life would go forward. Eventually, the veil would lift, the cold would yield to the sun's warmth, and the world would be reborn. This dark time would pass.”