“Flora would have liked to ask her parents why the words ‘to father’ have such a different meaning from the words ‘to mother’.”

“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. ” — Joseph Campbell”

“Flora would have liked to ask her parents why the words ‘to father’ have such a different meaning from the words ‘to mother’.”

“Writing does not exist unless there is someone to read it, and each reader will take something different from a novel, from a chapter, from a line.”

“In the middle, the river was a deep green, scattered with rocks poking their noses up for a breath. The water charged around them, creating eddies and whirlpools. Closer to the bank, the current dragged lengths of weed along with it so it seemed that long-haired women swam just under the surface, never coming up for air.”