Anthony Marra

He had always tried to treat Havaa as a child and she always went along with it, as though childhood and innocence were fantastical creatures that had died long ago, resurrected only in games of make believe.

Endurance, I reminded myself, is the true measure of existence.

... hurt burrowed deeper than anything she'd ever felt, deep enough to change from the thing she felt to the thing she was.

On December 9, 1994, Yeltsin issued a statement ordering the Federal army to execute the disarmament of all illegal armed units in Chechnya, or as they were known locally, the government.

You shouldn't rush, he said. There are no taste buds in your stomach.

She wanted to hold foreign syllables like mints on her tongue until they dissolved into fluency.

We know the meaning of nothing but the words we use to describe it.