In a civil war, he said gently, people forget that they are people. Next they forget anyone else is a person. They forget how to be kind. They learn to hurt. In our wars, they might execute you, but u...
If she dreamed, she did not remember when she awoke.
I guess even really annoying people can be right sometimes.
How terrifying empty beds were. The neatness of the sheets and blankets was like the neatness of a mowed and trimmed graveyard.
Her father drove up and down car aisles, looking for a good slot. Who cared about a good slot? Just park the car already!
Don't they look like ancient island princesses, marked out for sacrifice? Sent away for the sake of the islanders, to be given to the sea?
And Ruth was the last person to whom a sensible Indian would hand a weapon.
And Charlotte! said Mrs. Shields in tones of disgust. Who even knew there was a town called Charlotte?
All his life Reeve had reacted to good news and bad by wanting to throw things.
You know what is happening with Eben, don’t you?Will he marry Sarah? Mercy asked excitedly. We don’t know how it worked out. Tell us.Father Meriel will honor Sarah’s decision to accept Eben. I guess i...
My theory, said Eben, is that being a captive is an honor for the strong and the uncomplaining.Sarah and Mercy considered this.Then why is Ruth alive? She complains all day long, said Sarah.But she is...
Munnonock, said Mercy’s Indian.Eben did not know the word or any of the syllables in it.Mercy frowned, trying to work it out. She shook her head at Tannhahorens.He pointed at her. Munnonock, he said a...
Listen to Sarah Hoyt! cried Ruth. Her long bony face was twisted with anger and hunger. She’s actually laughing. I despise her! It dishonors the dead to make friends with their murderers.Eben’s heart...
It’s me! Mercy Carter! Oh, Mr. Williams! Do you have news? She flung herself on top of him. Oh, his beautiful beard! The beard of a real father, not a pretend Indian father or a French church father....
I don’t understand adoptions myself. I wouldn’t want to be a father to somebody else’s son. But the French and the Indians have run out of children. They love to pretend we’re their children.They aren...
We will freeze to death, thought Mercy. Why go to the trouble of carrying a hundred pairs of moccasins when they won’t make a fire?Her Indian knelt and, with his bare hands, scooped out a hole in a sn...
They reached a river where the water was open, seething and churning over rocks.We’re going to cross that? thought Mercy. It’s too wide and deep. We’ll drown.Tannhahorens took off his tobacco necklace...
The Indian next to Mr. Williams interrupted him roughly. We kill. You tell.Mr. Williams ceased to pray. Joe Alexander escaped last night, he said. If anyone else tries to escape, they will burn the re...
Tannhahorens did not look at Mercy. The tip of his knife advanced and the Frenchman backed away from it. He was a very strong man, possibly stronger than Tannhahorens. But behind Tannhahorens were twe...
She was envious of Sally, who had gotten a perfect husband in Benjamin Burt. Horrified by Eliza, who had married an Indian, even if Andrew was a Praying Indian. Sickened by Abigail, whose choice was a...