Quotes from Melina Marchetta

I only know one word. It means friend. I said it in her ear 'Sora. Sora. Sora.'" "And who taught you this Charynite word for friend?" "Phaedra of Alonso did. She said it was the prettiest word in Charyn." And Lucien ached to hear those words.

If she allowed herself to give in to the whole sadness of it, she'd never ever be able to operate like a normal person again.

I still don't say anything. I want to but I can't. I want to explain everything that's going on in my head but I can't find the words

I think were made up of all these different pieces an every time someone goes your left with less of yourself.

And then he told me to close my eyes. And I think I've been frightened to do just that ever since.

Are you a slave?" she asked harshly. "In Serker, only slaves are etched." "With the names of the men that own them," he said, his eyes meeting her. It sickened him to think of Lirah being owned by anyone. "I am a Serker, Lirah," he said softly. "My body is etched with the names of the three women that own me. My queen. My mother. My woman.

She's a dead loss. Has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She's so insipid, she's almost invisible.

Because we don't live in a society anymore, Tom. We live in an economy. We're not citizens. We're customers.

Death is death and loss is loss.

Does it help?" he asks. "The e-mailing." She nods. "A tiny bit. It's strange. You're writing a letter to someone who's never going to read it, so it kind of frees you up a bit.

I have an aunt and I have a Griggs and this is what it's like to have connections with people.

I think of those little sullen-faced Year Sevens back in high school and here are these people who have such a great spirit and so little.

An arm was instantly around his neck. A dagger to his throat. A savage growl in his ear. Sagra. How he missed her.

And if the gods were to give me a choice between living a better life, having not met them, or a wretched life with the slightest chance of crossing their path, then I'd pick the wretched life over and over again.

The worst thing about the slivers of light is that you get to catch people's expressions for only a split second; then they disappear again, and in between you are forced to think about what it is that could make a person look so devastated.

A lot of times you're around men who are so in love with their wives or partners that they don't have anything to offer any other woman in conversation. Especially single women. But Sam and Dom and Abe can be in love with you three and still make a girl feel as if she has some kind of sex appeal. That's nice.

I am disappointed. Violette knows how I feel about smart girls turning into needy sex objects for dumb boys.

How can you fight the world with a quiver in your voice, Beatriss of the Flatlands?

He was very solemn; she wasn't. Phaedra couldn't stop smiling.

He's never asked about her depression in the past, just knew it was there like a big black blob over her head. In Year Eleven they thought it was a one-off because her mother had been sick, but he had seen it once or twice again. Francesca knew the signs and he could tell she fought it with everything she had inside of her.

I wrote to you months ago and you sent him here on an errand about water fountains." "He said you loved water fountains.

Toto sits up, holding tight to the bar and staring out at the world. He drops a new toy that came with the pram and starts crying. Jimmy picks it up and crouches, looking into his caramel eyes. 'I'm Jimmy,' he whispers, 'and you're the first thing I've ever sort of owned and I don't want to get this wrong.

Will you be my wife?" "You're asking me?" "Well, no one else is.

Jimmy's wedding day is literally the best day of his life. He hasn't had many of those, so he's able to differentiate. After the barbecue is lit, he holds Rosie's hand and they watch it all in silence. And like always, Jimmy is amazed by the kindness of strangers.