“Words that had looked so strong on the page, which ran through his mind like music, now shriveled in the air around him.”

“It was great spending the nights with him, but sometimes, she needed a little break from him and the her that she became around him.”

“Women didn't like to face reality, especially his.”

“Shadows gathered as they had done for eons, beneath the moon and the twinkling of a million stars, like a gathering of forgotten deities.”

“His voice evoked the ghosts of those who had paid that price and died horribly. They hovered in the shadows muttering vengeance, but he didn't appear to be affected as he walked and talked. He was at home with the living and the dead.”

“Are you sayin' it's okay to throw yourself at someone for the sake of art but it's not okay to go around bein' nice?”

“She knew where they were going. She had visited Kilmainham Gaol before, wrapped in its brooding walls lest the ghosts it housed should break free and point accusing fingers at those who used the reins of power to drive the horses of personal ambition. It was a sad place where the residue of human suffering lingered – it had no place else to go.”