"A soft pain jolts beneath my ribs as I watch Mithoo nurse, and I think my heart is beginning to mend" (p. 82).

"Crossing the dunes to the toba, I think of Guluband. He seems a part of my life that is long past. His going has taught me both the strength of my will and its limits. I know Dadi thinks my bent for freedom is dangerous, and I'm learning to save my spirit for when it can be useful" (p. 85).

"Phulan looks regal with the red chadr over her shiny black hair. She looks like a flower blooming in the desert sunset, the wind whipping her clothes around her in sheets of color" (p. 92).

"I too feel like a child struggling to know what it is to be grown" (p. 108).

"Outside, the desert has been rearranged. Unfamiliar dunes roll where the land used to lie flat. Stands...