“That year, when the trees burned the fire of late summer into their leaves and the ground mist was a ghost of the river, long and wet and cold, the aunt looked from her windows to the walls around her and imagined another winter inside them. She began to see the world as a bird sees bars, and she scratched her arms beneath her sleeves.”

“Most people are genuinely good, sweetheart, and even the evil ones have some good in them. -Shannon Hale”

“Hey, times are tough, and thirty gold coins can do a lot of good. But I guess you wouldn't know about needing money, since you grew up like a little princ..."(Rapunzel glares)"Prin... soner. I mean, prisoner! A prisoner in a tower, such a shame, that.”

“I'd thought I wanted to live free of my mundane little cage, but the world outside was feeling more and more hazardous.”

“Life feels like fall of itself.""'A dream within a dream.""And I want to wake up.”

“Get back in my cot, girl," said Gilsa. "You're sickly."No, I'm not," said Ani.Oh, no? Well, maybe stubbornness is a sickness, did you ever think of that?”

“Seriously, a thirty-something woman shouldn't be daydreaming about a fictional character in a two-hundred-year-old world to the point where it interfered with her very real and much more important life and relationships. Of course she shouldn't. ”

“Over there!" "Where?" Enna asked in mock panic "Do you see something?”

“I'm going to find whoever is responsible for me sleeping out side with outside without pillows and kick them in the shins!-Enna”

“The book smelled dusty and old but also carried a sweet tang, a hint of something inviting. She opened to the first page and started to read, pronouncing the words in a reverent whisper.”

“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”