"We struggle across that last stretch of open road as if we swim...

"We struggle across that last stretch of open road as if we swim through an ice-choked river. Far ahead, it seems to me there is a square opening — a gap of light where we can see inside the Monastery. Firelight, steaming pots, a long pathway. A great house — it seems to me, in this uncertain light — a mansion of many rooms."

 

— from the novel SINFUL FOLK