She found herself longing for home-not just for the hotel but for New York and all the real novels that she could lose herself in there.

It is well known that a man, when wooing a lady to be his wife, must first win over the females she most confides in—her friends, of course, and her sister, if she has one.

The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color - oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples.

A young lady's most natural ally is her sister although sometimes our own relatives are as inscrutable to us as an antipodean.

Life was a short window and there was no sense in doing the wrong thing over and over even if it was so difficult to stop.

We see our sins reflected everywhere: in the pallor of our intimates’ faces, in the scratching of tree branches against windows, in the strange movements of everyday objects. These may be messages from God or tricks of the eye, but in neither case are we permitted to ignore them.

It seemed to her as though everything that was good and true had been blasted out of the world. All those things had been crushed destroyed made to disappear.