“Time. In another time. Either before or after. They were not stars,but fires. They were the souls of birds. They were entries into the vast fire. They were the eyes of the dead. And in the darkness theywere imprisoned by them.”

“The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes.”

“There was a fire in the wide hearth before them, and it was burning with a sweet smell, as if it were built of apple-wood.”

“There were no sparks, just a gasoline fire burning through the dark”

“Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. ...And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason, for anything.”

“It was Russia, January 5, 1943, and just another icy day. Out among the city and snow, there were dead Russians and Germans everywhere. Those who remained were firing into the blank pages in front of them. Three languages interwove. The Russian, the bullets, the German.”