Out of the Easy

by Ruta Sepetys

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever . . . it will never pass into nothingness.”

“Let me tell you something ’bout those rich Uptown folk,” said Cokie. “They got everything that money can buy, their bank accounts are fat, but they ain’t happy. They ain’t ever gone be happy. You know why? They soul broke. And money can’t fix that, no sir.

If you’re tangled with him, you don’t end up in jail, you end up dead. My dad’s just your average Crescent City crook. This town will eat you up if you’re not careful. But I won’t be here forever.

Sometimes we set off down a road thinkin’ we’re goin’ one place and we end up another. But that’s okay. The important thing is to start.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

I love you the more in that I believe you have liked me for my own sake and for nothing else.

“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.” —Sir Francis Bacon