In 2021
“It is the absolute shittiest day for a walk. “
“There is a narrow street in Paris named Rue Gît-le-Cœur. “
“Morning light blasts through the woods, making me squint. “
“ ‘What a beautiful Easter day,’ Grand Prince Dimitri Sergeyevich Markhov commented. “
“There was once a rich merchant who lived at the edge of the woods, in a tiny town in the Hinterland. “
“A blade flashed, kindled bright by moonshine. “
“The first time our father brought Andrea to the Dutch House, Sandy, our housekeeper, came to my sister’s room and told us to come downstairs. “
“Rosalyn had endured disappointing birthdays before, but never one in ankle-deep corpse sludge. “
“He is coming on the Lord’s Day. “
“If you do not believe in evil, you are doomed to live in a world you will never understand. “
“When you’re a child, you think that your parents are the same as everyone else’s and that what happens in your house happens in other people’s homes too. “
“It’s a quiet, lovely day, like every day in Three Graces, except one of the horses is sick. “
“No recipe for hygge is complete without candles. “
“I woke to the promise of a storm. “
“What’s a little girl like you doing so close to the front lines? “
“This water is fierce. “
“From the moment of his election as president on November 6, 1860, Lincoln confronted issues of policy and strategy even though he would not take office for almost four months. “
“Miles, Lord Marshall, had never wanted to come down here in the first place. “
“He’s a dead thing. “
“I love the goblin market. “
“And to think — Primrose tried not to be grim — that only a few moments ago I felt misled by the claim that this is the biggest wheystation in the South Pacific. “
“You’re not going to believe me. “
“Sparks of magic drift through the inn walls, chased by moonlight and shadows. “
“I like to imagine there were more of us in the beginning. “
“When they asked her about the Vanderbilts and Belmonts, about their celebrations and depredations, the mansions and balls, the lawsuits, the betrayals, the rifts — when they asked why she did the extreme things she’d done, Alva said it all began quite simply: Once there was a desperate young woman whose mother was dead and whose father was dying almost as quickly as his money was running out. “
“It’s rare that a story begins at the beginning. “
“The bus depot in Denver smells like gasoline and asphalt, unwashed bodies and stale coffee. “
“Havenfall is my home. “
“War has often been called a game, with good reason. “
“Wren had never seen a worse radial fracture. “
“The knock of a pulley hitting the deck made me blink, and suddenly the white-washed world around me came rushing back. “
“The gentleman in seat 2D was in medical distress when he boarded, the flight attendant is sure of it. “
“Looking down at the boy strapped to the metal table before her, Kiva Meridan leaned in close and whispered, ‘Take a deep breath.’ “
“Dylan was six hours old when I noticed a mark behind his left ear the size of a thumbprint. “
“That September of 1901, four years after Ilmari left for America, both for its opportunity and the fear of being drafted into the Russian army, the district was still without a teacher. “
“I’ve always considered myself to be, basically, a lucky person. “
“ ‘How are things going at school, Declan?’ I asked. “
“ ‘Ophelia, if it was your last day on earth and you wanted to dress for the occasion, would you wear the potentially-too-short black dress or the hilarious Zelda T-shirt of an ocarina that says ‘Make It Rain’?’ “
“Seated opposite me in the railway carriage, the elderly lady in the fox-fur shawl was recalling some of the murders that she had committed over the years.”
“I think you’re the one I spoke to on the phone, the librarian with a voice so soft that I went out and bought myself a cashmere sweater.”