“Alyona would not be responsible for whatever nightmares Sophia did or did not have.”

This quote foreshadows the trauma of the Golosovskaya sisters. At the end of the book, the reader learns that Alyona guarded Sophia throughout their time in captivity in Yegor’s house, thereby taking on her sister’s nightmares as her own.

“Alyona looked across the street at the bus stop. A bus would take them more than half an hour, while in a car they’d be home in ten minutes.”

This passage marks a pivotal moment in the book: when Alyona chooses to get in the car with the kidnapper, thereby setting the primary mystery in motion.

“During gym this afternoon, they had jogged together like always. Olya made sure their feet matched. She could have run faster, but love meant making compromises. With people that mattered, Olya did not want to be free.”

This quote describes Olya’s intense love for her friend, Diana. Fearful in the wake of the disappearance of the Golosovskaya sisters, Diana’s mother, Valentina, sought to separate her daughter from Olya, whose family she felt was a bad influence. Olya’s relatively minor tragedy, set in motion by the bigger tragedy of the kidnapping, brings into focus the rippling effects one event can have on young members of a community.