He was not in the house. He did not come back that night. Days went by, and at last she understood that he would not return at all.

...she could express her soul with that voice, whenver I listened to her I felt my life meant more than mere biology...she could really hear, she understood structure and she could analyze exactly what it was about a piece of music that had to be rendered just so...she was a very emotional person, Annette. She brought that out in other people. After she died I don't think I ever really felt anything again.

He had never realized, while Elspeth was alive, the extent to which a thing had not completely happened until he told her about it.

What is more basic than the need to be known? It is the entirety of intimacy, the elixir of love, this knowing.

The kissed surprised him because it had been so long since he'd kissed anyone but Elspeth. It surprised Valentina because she had hardly ever kissed anyone that way - to her, kissing had always been more theoretical than physical. Afterwards she stood with her eyes closed, lips parted, face tilted. Robert thought, She's going to break my heart and I'm going to let her.

Clare seems so pleased with the idea of me as a pirate that she forgets that I am Stranger Danger.

Henry loves my hair almost as though it is a creature unto itself, as though it has a soul to call its own, as though it could love him back.