The Good People

Nóra knew that death made people long to smoke and drink and eat, as though by tending to their lungs and stomachs they were assuring themselves of their own good health, of the certainty of their continued existence.

he had spoken of the ocean as some men speak of their mothers – with reverence and a great, choking love.

Nóra held her tongue still and let her grief sit in her like a stone.

They looked at her white hair and saw twilight.

Just as day is joined to night, so does the year have its seams.’

Was that when Nance first began to learn about the strange hinges of the world, the thresholds between what was known and all that lay beyond?

no plant is a poison to the one who knows how to use it.’

as though she were in that room again

But the child exhausted her in a different way. He tortured her with constant, shrill needfulness.