Dustfinger still clearly remembered the feeling of being in love for the first time. How vulnerable his heart had suddenly been! Such a trembling, quivering thing, happy and miserably unhappy at once.

Please," she whispered as she opened the book, "please get me out of here just for an hour or so, please take me far, far away

She is a real bookworm. I think she lives on print. Her whole house is full of books - looks as if she likes them better than human company.

But after all, the villains are the salt in the soup of a story.

believe me. Sometimes when life looks to be at its grimmest, there's a light hidden at the heart of things. Clive Barker, Abarat

Books are like flypaper, memories cling to the printed pages better than anything else.

Why do grown-ups think it's easier for children to bear secrets than the truth? Don't they know about the horror stories we imagine to explain the secrets?