The Song of Achilles

by Madeline Miller

The sound was pure and sweet as water, bright as lemons. It was like no music I had ever heard before. It had warmth as a fire does, a texture and weight like polished ivory. It buoyed and soothed at once.

I loved this about him. No matter how many times I had asked, he answered me as if it were the first time.

IN THE DARKNESS, two shadows, reaching through

the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.