"The moment did not bring to mind her own losses. What rushed before Marina was the inherent cruelty of the telling. It didn't matter how gently the news was delivered, with how much sorrow and compassion, it was a blow to cut Karen Eckman in two." (Chapter 1, p. 15).

"The doors sealed them in with the music and sealed the world out and suddenly it was clear that building an opera house was a basic act of human survival. It kept them all from rotting in the unendurable heat. It saved their souls in ways those murdering Christian missionaries could never have envisioned." (Chapter 5, p. 124).

"It's difficult to trust yourself in the jungle...Some people gain their bearings over time but for others that adjustment never comes. It's simply too foreign. We can't fins a common application for what we already know. I'm not just thinking of moral issues...