"'I ain't go'n be no burden on y'all. Not ever. Which means I got to hire me a colored woman or git married, one, and tell you the truth, hit's jest cheaper to have a wife.'" Ch. 2 pg. 6

"According to Temp, the deacons voted to put it in the church records that Mary Willis Blakeslee has swapped her religious birthright for a mess of matrimonial pottage." Ch. 3 pg. 11.

"She was the only child of Granny and Grandpa's to live more than a few years, besides my mother, and she'd been spoiled all her life. I reckon they thought they had to keep rewarding her for not dying." Ch. 2 pg. 12.

"In a few minutes Grandpa was back with a dark red rose in his hand, biting off the thorns and spitting them out as he walked toward the bed. When Granny roused a little he held the rose...