I would pick them when they bloomed. And when she called me home for supper, I'd place them in her hair and the contrast would take my breath away.

And then their voices stopped and their souls stood still and they ceased being who they had been. Because who they were had always been determined by him.

The truth doesn't set you free, you know. It makes you feel awkward and embarrassed and defenseless and red in the face and horrified and petrified and vulnerable.

I recognise Santangelo's dad, who saves police brutality for when he gets to his son.

Girls under the age of fourteen are the most frightening creatures I have ever come across. - Jonah Griggs

Instinct tells me to go to Hannah's, but she doesn't live there anymore and that's when I realize the major difference between my mother and Hannah. My mother deserted me at the 7-Eleven, hundred of kilometers away from home. Hannah, however, did the unforgivable. She deserted me in our own backyard.

You list the dead. You tell the stories of the past. You write about the catastrophes and the massacres. What about the living, Finnikin? Who honors them?