Find quotes from this novel, with commentary from Shmoop. Pick a theme below to begin.
Identity Quotes
Just as Einar was about to beg them to leave the studio, to let him change out of the dress in peace, Greta said, her voice soft and careful and unfamiliar, "Why don't we call you Lili?" (1.67)
Gender Quotes
Einar was beginning to enter a shadowy world of dreams where Anna's dress could belong to anyone, even to him. (1.62)
Marriage Quotes
"His wife knew first." (1.1)
Love Quotes
Next to [Greta], Einar felt small, as if he were her son, looking up beyond her chin to her eyes, reaching for a hanging hand. (1.34)
Art and Culture Quotes
Greta worried that the odor […] would settle into her canvases, but Einar told her it was impossible, not with the shellac. "They're impenetrable," he remarked of her paintings, which sounded—o...
Memory and the Past Quotes
Something began to run through Einar's head, and it made him think of a fox chasing a fieldmouse: the thin red nose of the fox digging for the mouse through the folds of a pulse field. (1.32)
Perseverance Quotes
"Dreams shouldn't be shared," Hans told Einar one day when teaching him to climb the ancient oak that grew on the edge of the bog. (3.12)
Appearances Quotes
"But I can't wear Anna's shoes," Einar said. (1.11)