"But a few years ago, in 1989, the Soviet Union had fallen, and Cuba had hit rock bottom." (8)

"As her mother like to say, Isabel could play the storm clouds from the sky." (10)

"Close the door that brings the wind and relax" (14).

"[Aleppo had been] A crown jewel of the Middle East." (14)

"Syria was ruled by Bashar al-Assad, who had twice been 'elected' president when no one was allowed to run against him." (14)

"With a battle cry that would have made Wolverine proud, Mahmoud had launched himself at Khalid's attackers." (16)

“She saw her papi just as he reared back and threw a bottle that smashed into the lie of police along a seawall. It was the last straw for the police.” (27)

"Across the room, Waleed sat like a zombie in front of the television, watching a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon dubbed into Syrian Arabic. " (30)

"Men with gunshot wounds. Women with burns. Children with missing limbs." (31)

"The world was a whirlwind of bricks and broken dishes and table legs and heat, and Mahmoud slammed into a cabinet." (32)

"A steep ramp ran to the top of the tall black hull, and hundreds of people were already on board, milling around under colorful fluttering pennants and waving to friends and families on the docks." (35)

"He was thinner too. Too thin. A skeleton in a threadbare suit three sizes too big for him" (36).

" The only sound was the soft crack of a bat and the roar of the crowd on the television." (41)

"She held out her trumpet...'It’s French, and old, and plays like a dream' " (46)

"Isabel stood for what seemed like hours, her insides churning like a waterspout." (47)

"Waleed's eyes were alive, but empty." (49)

"Waleed sat still as a statue, and he looked like one too. " (49)

"A building shuddered and collapsed, smoke and debris avalanching out into the street." (51)

"The MS St. Louis was a paradise." (56)

"Three times a day they ate delicious meals in a dining room laid out with white linen tablecloths, crystal glasses, and shining silverware, and stewards waited on them ..." (56)

" [On the St. Louis] ... stewards waited on them hand and foot." (56)

"Señora Castillo, Iván's mother, was dark-skinned and curvy, and wore a white kerchief over her dreadlocks." (60)

"They kept arguing, but the engine and the slap of the boat against the waves drowned their words out for Isabel." (65)

" 'Had to go back for the phone,' he told them, 'how else am I going to play Angry Birds?' " (72)

"Mahmoud's father waited for another lull in the shooting, and then they all hurried away from the car, leaving everything else they owned behind." (73)

“They were almost to the highway when gunfire erupted nearby--tat-tatatatat!tatatat!--and bullets pinged into the car.” (71)