“Dear God, Tatiana prayed in bed that night, turning to the wall and pulling the white sheet and the thin brown blanket over herself. If You are there somewhere, please teach me how to hide what I never knew how to show.”

“Only Gracie knew what it was like to wake up at night and feel how cold sheets can get on the empty side of a bed.”

“I sit there in my bed staring at the wall, feeling happy, enjoying the way the wall looks, how pink and how white it is. Pink and white, as far as I’m concerned, have never looked quite so pink and white before.”

“Oh,to be walking through Leningrad white night after white night, the dawn to dusk all smelting together like platinum ore, Tatiana thought, turning away to the wall, again to the wall, the wall, as ever. Alexander, my nights, my days, my every thought. You will fall away from me in just a while, won't you, and I'll be whole again, and I will go on and feel for someone else, the way everyone does. But my innocence is forever gone.”

“God, teach me to be patient, teach me to go slow,Teach me how to wait on You when my way I do not know.Teach me sweet forbearance when things do not go rightSo I remain unruffled when others grow uptight.Teach me how to quiet my racing, rising heartSo I might hear the answer You are trying to impart.Teach me to let go, dear God, and pray undisturbed untilMy heart is filled with inner peace and I learn to know your will.”

“I never knew I needed anything or anyone until I met you. Please, please, please open your pretty brown yes for me.”