The pickup

"has never come to the lean-to, put an arm around her conspiratorially” and in Arabic, which “the foreigner understands enough, now,” she tells Julie: “He’ll come back”"

"But a human being, she, she, cannot simply exist; she is a hurricane, every thought bending and crossing its coherence inside her, nothing will let her be, not for a moment. Every emotion, every thought, is invaded by another."

"there is no last time, for the desert. The desert is always”"

"he must depart within 14 days or face charges and deportation to his country of origin"

"the women crowded about to prevent her from so much as putting her hands in water” ** page 136."

"the two with arms again about each other on the sofa quietly as if Ibrahim’s wife were a sister”"

"tell her once and for all what her ignorant obstinacy of coming with him to this place means, when she failed, with all her privilege at getting him accepted into hers."

"they wonder why you do not get a baby. Then perhaps you will first marry here, our way”"

"tell it to the desert; that is safe”"

"she, who always has advice and a solution has none for him.Ah, an ally, that’s it; but not his. An ally of the foreigner, she will be the one to restore the son to the mother”"

"kept away from her let her have an idea of what she doesn’t realize that she will be in this house without the love-making she needs so much without his love for her”"

"Julie’s ability to communicate with members of the community is rudimentary – the only clearly positive relationship she has is with Maryam – no men interact with her and all other women keep her at arm’s length – her possible place in the society is potentially self-affirming"