“Part of him wanted to weep... but his purpose was rigid within him. He felt he could not bend to gentleness without breaking.”

“(He) felt lost and alone without his old friend, though he barely recognized him anymore. He wondered if they could ever be friends again.”

“Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was born a love, a despairing fondness for this flag which was near him. It was a creation of beauty and invulnerability. It was a goddess, radiant, that bended its form with an imperious gesture to him. It was a woman, red and white, hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes. Because no harm could come to it he endowed it with power. He kept near, as if it could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry went from his mind.”

“COLE HELD KYLE AS gently as he could manage. He wanted to pull her inside of him. Kneeling with her in the church had saved him. He realized now that she was his angel. There would be no denying her again.”

“Erlender thought about Marion Briem and their shared story, which was now at an end. He felt a sense of loss and regret... He thought about their relationship, the experiences they had shared,the story that was part of him, that he could not and would not have done without. It was him.”

“He wanted her hands on him, he wanted her mouth on him, he wanted to take her from behind, leaning over the bunk, he wanted her to go down on him, he wanted everything he could possibly think of and more. He wanted it hard and nasty, gentle and sweet. But most of all he wanted it now.”