Quote 1
"She's lying back and thinking of England!" Pippa shrieks, invoking the phrase that every English mother tells her daughter about carnal acts. We're not supposed to enjoy it. We're just supposed to put our mind on making babies for the future of the Empire and to please our husbands. (13.119)
Women are so tightly controlled that they are not allowed to acknowledge the way they feel, not even when it comes to their bodies and reproduction. Ugh.
Quote 2
Pippa touches a finger to a leaf. It curls in on itself, melts, re-forms as a butterfly and drifts heavenward. "Oh, it's all so beautiful."
"Extraordinary," Ann says.
Blossoms rain down, melt into our hair like fat snowflakes. They make our hair shine. We sparkle. Felicity twirls round and round, overcome by happiness. (22.42-44)
This supernatural world is a sensory overload, filled with colors, smells, and feelings. It is almost overwhelming… But one thing they all agree on is that it is real.