“Stories rarely begin at the beginning, but every storyteller has to begin somewhere, and Anna chooses to start this story with shame.”

“Secrets, I've discovered, have a way of working free of their keepers.”

“But what do I believe?”

“Without really trying, I have become a collector of other families' secrets. Whenever I tell someone about my detective work, the first question is invariably something like this: 'Can you tell me the secret?' Sure, I say. The next question often is: 'Want to hear my family's secret?”

“It has always been the way of tales and dreams. Time forgets itself. That is also the way of remembering. But when remembering or retelling, it is best to start at the beginning. And for all memories,all tales, and all dreams, there is but one beginning…”

“You can start to change your luck today. Begin believing that you can have what you desire and superior things will arrive.”

“Every good story-teller nowadays starts with the end, andthen goes on to the beginning, and concludes with themiddle...”