Enlightenment

Father planned to throw a big party for her ‘coming out’. Then – he hoped – she would catch the eye of some eligible young man, a lord-to-be, perhaps, and swap this prison for another one.

Samuel thinks about Bethany the way other people maybe think about God. As in: How is God judging me?

Hines could see that she didn’t have the heart to refuse him directly. No doubt this deeply melancholy man was very attractive to a woman’s eyes. But this didn’t worry him, because the man was obviously so consumed by his despair that nothing else had any meaning for him.

Sylvie knew Rose had lost faith, and perhaps interest, in the finish line she’d set for her daughters when they were young.