Each letter has a shape, she told them, one shape in the world and no other, and it is your responsibility to make it perfect.

It seemed there was no end at all to the lies a person could tell, once she got started.

I love to swim, and I love being near water.

...so young, so lonely and naive, that she imagined herself as some sort of vessel to be filled up with love. But it wasn't like that. The love was within her all the time and its only renewal came from giving it away.

Lately, the world felt fragile, like a blown egg, as if it might shatter beneath a careless touch.

He fished in his pocket for his keys and instead pulled out the last geode, gray and smooth, earth-shaped. He held it, warming in his palm, thinking of all mysteries the world contained: layers of stone, concealed beneath the flesh of earth and grass; these dull rocks, with their glimmering hidden hearts.

Twin threads ran through her: fear and excitement.