1
For some people, she thought, trials were only temporary; they sailed towards happiness through the roughest weather.Emma Donoghue
2
It came to Mary now that her mother had been right, after all; Mary had been born for this. In sixteen years she'd shot along the shortest route she could find between life and death, as the crow flew.Emma Donoghue
3
The worn soles of Daffy's boots skidded on the icy stones. He'd been saving up for a new pair for Christmas, but then he'd come across an encyclopaedia in ten volumes, going cheap. Boots might last ten years, at best, but knowledge was eternal.Emma Donoghue
4
For all the books in his possession, he still failed to read the stories written plain as day in the faces of the people around him.Emma Donoghue
5
In the yard of the inn, Daffy Cadwaladyr introduced himself. "Short for Davyd, " he said pleasantly. The Londoner looked as if she'd never heard a sillier name in her life.Emma Donoghue
6
The crow flew closer, as if to hear its praises.Emma Donoghue
7
Daffy bent down suddenly, and picked a small startled white flower. "Anemone, " he said, handing it over; he made her repeat the word until she had it right. "Find me a silk to match that.Emma Donoghue
8
Sometimes words were like glass that broke in her mouth.Emma Donoghue
9
I may have had moments of regret in my life, but you know, they wouldn't add up to an hour.Emma Donoghue
10
That's what you got for being a servant of no ambition: a shrunken life, hung up like a gibbet as a warning to others.Emma Donoghue
11
And tonight Mary could taste bitterness going down like a nut, settling in her stomach. It planted itself, put down roots, and began to grow, nourished on her dark blood.Emma Donoghue