“Long ago she'd clamped an iron shell around her heart and nothing and no one could pry it lose, but deep inside the tender flesh still beat.”

“Brick walls towered over her. Decrepit staircases crowded about her. Nothing had changed. The line there, the lessons there, the rape there. Shouldn't the place be crimson with blood and black with shame?”

“She raised her head and saw a squadron of fighter planes. She stretched her hand high as if she could grab hold and climb away from what she had done, from who she was.”

“The shame of her youth screamed at her from every brick, but Jesus silenced it. She had dreaded this moment for weeks, but God was so powerful. In the very place of her worst sin and deepest pain his peace billowed through her soul.”

“Ruth wiped her eyes. Successful at a price? Forgiven but damaged? She wished so much more for her baby sister.”

“Sonetimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself.”

“She acted completely on instinct, closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around him. He was unresponsive for a long beat, as though she’d taken him by surprise, then his arms went around her in turn.Her breasts were pressed to his chest and every breath she took was filled with the smell of his aftershave but there was nothing sexual about their embrace. She was offering him a little comfort, and he was accepting it. It was as small and simple as that.”