"Most animals didn't have much heartfire, but Bloody Mary's was strong and made a poison smoke." Chap. 1, p. 1

"Besides, the lady that haunted his heartfire, she didn't have no clothes on, and Little Peggy knew that she'd be whipped for sure if she talked about people being naked." Chap. 1, p. 5

"If you were a family with plenty of strong backs and clever hands, it'd be good land, too, as long as the weather was with them and the Reds didn't raid them and all the lawyers and bankers stayed in New England." Chap. 2, p.7

"She had dreams of water even when she wasn't here—that was one of the things that made some folks say she was a seeper instead of a torch." Chap. 3, p. 9

"She saw the bits of their past that they most wished they could bury, and she saw the bits of their future...