"He insisted on calling the infant Stephen, nay more, he would have it baptized by that name." Book 1: Chap. 1, p. 13

"Sometimes, when the child's heart would feel full past bearing, she must tell him her problems in small, stumbling phrases. Tell him how much she longed to be different, longed to be someone like Nelson." Book 1: Chap. 2, p. 26

"And then in his terror for this well-beloved woman, Sir Philip committed the first cowardly action of his life—he who would not have spared himself pain, could not bear to inflict it on Anna." Book 1: Chap. 5, p. 54

"At seventeen Stephen was taller than Anna, who had used to be considered quite tall for a woman, but Stephen was nearly as tall as her father—not a beauty this, in the eyes of the neighbors." Book 1: Chap. 8, p. 72

"After she had gone he sat alone, and the lie...