How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"If you ask me," Mama murmured, "them two don't add up." (4.26)
What, you don't trust the mysterious girls who just show up on the riverboat one day and move in like it's totally normal for them to relocate from New Orleans to some town in the middle of nowhere? Weird.
Quote #2
We weren't used to talk at the table, and the kitchen rang with hers. She babbled and bubbled like a wellspring, and told nothing. Her accent came and went. (4.45)
If there's one thing Delphine can do, it's talk. And talk and talk and talk. It's a wonder she doesn't give away everything just to give herself something to talk about.
Quote #3
Something happened then. Below the table Calinda's hand seemed to jerk at Delphine's skirts. Delphine fell silent. A warning had passed between them. We all noticed. Well, maybe not Noah. (4.63)
Calinda stays silent as much as Delphine talks. Delphine's always teetering on the edge of telling too much, and Calinda's always pulling her back.
Quote #4
That was Delphine all over. She could tell you so much that you thought you'd heard it all. Her conversation was a lacework fan that opened and closed, concealing and revealing. (4.65)
Delphine is really good at talking and telling everything and nothing at the same time. Not only is she good at it, she really enjoys it; it's like a game she plays to see how far she can go without going too far. Hey, she has to do something to entertain herself in Grand Tower.
Quote #5
Oh, I babbled like a brook and flowed like a freshet. At least I didn't tell her how many seasons had passed since we'd seen hide or hair of Paw. Years, really.
She seemed to hear more than I'd told. I was provoked at myself. Hadn't Mama just warned me to watch every word I spoke? Hadn't she made that crystal clear? (5.35-36)
Delphine's chattiness rubs off on Tilly. Not yet as practiced at concealing and revealing the truth as Delphine is, she tells more than she means to and Delphine can guess the rest.
Quote #6
The boats no longer ran between here and New Orleans, and so there was no turning back for Delphine and Calinda. I wondered what they thought about that, but Delphine would tell you exactly what she wanted you to hear, and Calinda didn't even tell that much. (6.45)
It's hard to really get to know both Delphine and Calinda because Delphine buries herself in words and Calinda in silence. Tilly often has to guess what they're really thinking, and they don't make it easy to find out their secrets.
Quote #7
"Spies." Mama pondered. "They come to the wrong town, didn't they? If we had a secret, you three would tell it." (7.24)
Mama's accusing the town gossips of being, well, town gossips. She claims there aren't any secrets and lies in Grand Tower, though; the town's not capable of keeping them or telling them. Do you think she's right?
Quote #8
Another door closed inside her. She shut her fan and said no more. (8.61)
As cool as she is, it must be exhausting to be Delphine, always thinking about which doors are open and which ones are closed.
Quote #9
She had a way of telling you so much, you thought you'd heard it all. And I knew where she'd learned that. (15.38)
In her old age, Tilly has finally mastered Delphine's way with words. If it weren't for the final big reveal, we'd think she really had told the whole story.
Quote #10
"We couldn't be mother and son, you see. She didn't trust the world. She didn't trust the town. She never knew when somebody would … see her for who she was and turn on her. She wouldn't hand that on to me." (15.54)
Here it is, the ultimate secret at the heart of the story: Howard's father is Delphine's son, which means that Howard and his brothers have African blood, too. Delphine set up this deceit to protect her child and his descendants by denying her own relationship to them. So sad.