"Sometimes in the spring the old lake will return. One will open a cellar door to wading boots floating tallowy soles up and planks and buckets bumping at the threshold, the stairway gone from sight after the second step." Chap. 1, p. 5

"The disaster took place midway through a moonless night. The train, which was black and sleek and elegant, and was called the Fireball, had pulled more than halfway across the bridge when the engine nosed over toward the lake and then the rest of the train slid after it into the water like a weasel sliding off a rock." Chap. 1, p. 6

"Her bread was tender and her jelly was tart, and on rainy days she made cookies and applesauce. In summer she kept roses in a vase on the piano, huge, pungent roses, and when the blooms ripened and the petals fell, she put them a tall...