"Some murky part of my brain, the part that had been brooding over her for months now, knew something that my more lucid thoughts were not admitting: she was slipping away from us, and she was slipping away fast. There was a drumbeat quickening the sound of a truth that needed to be heard. There was a child who was wondering into darkness." Chap. 2, p. 20

"This cry is our old habit of mind. We think we have some control, even as the impassive, impossible truth sits staring malevolently at us. 'Whether you sink or whether you swim, you will deal with me,' whispers the voice of catastrophe. 'Whether you want me or whether you don't, I am here, forever. You are impotent to change me. I will change you.'" Chap. 3, p. 27

"But I felt the anger, and it was eating me up. This godawful thing was...