Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy Quotes

“She was running out of the room as fast as she could, with the sword raised before her. She called back to her father. "I'll be back soon. I've just got to save the world.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“The problem with magic was that it made her feel very alone.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“And you might think a name is just a name, nothing but a word, but that is not the case. Your name is tacked to you. Where it has joined you, it has seeped into your skin and into your essence and into your soul. So when they plucked my name from me with their spell, it was as heavy as a rock in their hands but as invisible as the wind, and it wasn't just the memory of my name, but me myself. A tiny part of me that they took and stored away.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“Ophelia,' said the boy. He said it very quietly. She didn't like the way he said that at all. He sounded sad and as though he expected more from her.
'And how do you know my name anyways?' she said. 'I never told you it, not once.'
'I heard it once, a long time ago.'
He was full of mysterious sentences like that.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“The trouble with magic was that is was messy and dangerous and filled with longing. There were too many moments that made your heart stop and ache and start again.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“The strangest think I have learned is that it's impossible to know what's inside someone. The wizards didn't teach me this, but I have learned it myself. Those who appear tall and straight and very good are sometimes rotten on the inside, and others, huge and clawed and apparently very bad, sometimes contain a pure and sweet form of goodness. The biggest trap is to judge a person by their outer casing. Their skin. Their hair. Their snow-white feathers.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“I need your help," the boy said, "to save the world.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“If you ever shoot a great magical owl with an arrow, you should remember this, Ophelia. Everything is connected. If you touch the ground, you touch the tops of trees. If you touch the trees, you touch the wings of birds.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“He did not say goodbye, but she felt him leave. In the shadows of her closed eyes, she saw the forest path and saw him there. When she opened her eyes, he was gone. He had simply ceased to be.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“You should think with your heart,' said her mother.
'My heart?' whispered Ophelia.
'Your heart,' said her mother, and she touched Ophelia's chest with the tip of her finger. It was the tiniest of touches, but a warmth and new hope spread through Ophelia's body. She began to smile.”
― Karen foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“But across the sea was this kingdom, and it was here I met the King," he said.
"And the Snow Queen," said Ophelia, "who made you her prisoner."
"Yes," said the boy. "But that wasn't straightaway. Many years passed first."
"What were you doing for those years?"
"Well, mostly I played and ate sweets," said the boy.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“26 In which we say goodbye to Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard After the hospital, where Mr. Whittard had his arm bandaged, they went in a taxi to the hotel. They drove through the streets of the city, where it no longer snowed. Alice folded all the clothes the museum curator had given her and left them neatly on her bed. She re-dressed herself, the way she had always dressed, in jeans and a T-shirt. She applied blood-red lipstick, which was way too grown-up for her. The sun was just up. It shone everywhere on the snow and on the glistening white trees and on all the windows. Behind each window there were people waking up to Christmas Day. They would no doubt open their presents, eat, and ice-skate. They would not set a time limit; they would skate into the night, and their cheeks would burn bright, and they would smile. Somewhere a man would take a violin out and begin to play. At the airport the family’s three suitcases were checked and the large, unusually shaped package was checked as well. The unusually shaped package went through the X-ray machine, and security looked very surprised until Ophelia’s father produced his card, which read: MALCOLM WHITTARD LEADING INTERNATIONAL EXPERT ON SWORDS They took their seats and rested, waiting for takeoff. Ophelia felt for Alice’s hand, and Alice squeezed in return until they were high in the air. Ophelia looked at her watch. They would be home within a few hours. She went to calculate … and stopped. Be brave, her mother whispered in her ear, and then was gone. From the airplane window Ophelia could see the city below. All the small and winding gray cobblestone streets, all the shining silver buildings and bridges, the museum, getting smaller and smaller until it was lost. She caught just a glimpse of the vast and fabled sea before the clouds covered this world. In that tiny moment she fancied she saw blue water, perfect blue water, the whitecaps breaking. Then that view was gone, swallowed up by the whitest clouds she’d ever seen. Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard, brave, curious girl, closed her eyes and smiled. THE END.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“And also it was a Thursday, and nothing miraculous ever happened on Thursdays.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“Ophelia was surprised by how easily she lied. She had two stolen keys in her pocket, and the lies were sliding off her tongue. Soon, she'd probably be shoplifting. She expected that was how it started.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“Ophelia had never been prophesied before. It made her feel annoyed.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

“Wizards, she thought, when she gained her composure. What good were they if they couldn't tell you how to do stuff, if they were always talking in riddles and saying they knew everything before it even happened? It wasn't very helpful.

If she were a wizard, she'd write reports for people. She'd make sure everything was very clear. She'd write, Looking for a magical sword? No problem. Go to the fifth floor, turn left, open a large wooden chest, et cetera, et cetera. She'd have check boxes. Found your magical sword? Place X here.”
― Karen Foxlee, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy