"For more than anything else, more than grief, or fear or even shock, and even with all that was now unknown about their future, what Cassia felt was a sickening, betraying, yet welcome sort of relief" (Page 31).

"This is a special joy of ours. To feed and to care for the sick and strangers, even for the least of them. A special joy" (Page 51).

"Resentment and bitterness can live longer than even memory at times" (Page 56).

"At only six years old, he was still old enough to understand. She had kept the truth from him all his life. But today was a new beginning, and beginnings were sometimes painful" (Page 77).

"She had always thought Alexander was a gift from the gods, one they had mistakenly bestowed upon her, a weak and worthless slave girl who did not merit such a gift. And now Alexander would be loved and...