"Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. 'Once upon a time' is how all the best children's stories begin and 'prostitute' is a word for adults. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But since, at every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss, let's keep that beginning." Chap. 1, p. 1

"She also noticed that, as had happened with the first boy, she associated love more with the person's absence than with their presence . . ." Chap. 2, p. 7

"After a long time, she came to the conclusion that men brought only pain, frustration, suffering and a sense of time dragging." Chap. 2, p. 13

"'But love is a terrible thing: I've seen my girlfriends suffer and I don't want the same thing to happen to me. They used to laugh at me...