“She's worked alongside him as they built their house on the vacant lot behind the sweet house and cultivated a small but fertile patch of cassava and sweet potatoes. Along the side wall of the house, a paradise of colors: tender pink hibiscus, fiery flamingo flowers, delicate purple orchids, and plump, juicy red protea.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“She's worked alongside him as they built their house on the vacant lot behind the sweet house and cultivated a small but fertile patch of cassava and sweet potatoes. Along the side wall of the house, a paradise of colors: tender pink hibiscus, fiery flamingo flowers, delicate purple orchids, and plump, juicy red protea.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“The yellow allamanda has started clinging to the net she's affixed to the wall; the funnel-shaped flowers are blooming in magnificent clusters.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“The North Star is the brightest star in that constellation. Stella Polaris in Latin. But did you know it was also called Stella Maris in the Middle Ages? Star of the Sea? That's actually one of the names they used to call the Virgin Mary."
Lisbeth looked at her with interest. "Really? That's exactly what she said. That little girl. She said her name was Star of the Sea."
Maya nodded. "Yes, exactly. 'Our lady, star of the sea' was one of the Holy Virgin's names.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“We're going to start making chocolate," she says. "Our own recipe. The taste of Fiji. Pure and simple. Pieces of happiness."
Her voice when she says it- suddenly it dawns on me, a bittersweet realization. Ingrid finally knows a thing or two about happiness. The dark, succulent kind, the kind you stake your claim to.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“a team project fosters not only unity but a new kind of happiness? In rediscovering oneself by mastering new things unexpectedly”
― Anne Ostby, Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate

“She painted this one for me. We were playing ocean. Can't you see what it is?"
Two dark oval shapes in the middle of the page; hard, glittering shells. Two turtles stretching their heads toward the shore. The translucent sea above the flickering seabed. Brownish black mangrove trees against warm sand. The figures on the beach are tiny, with long, flowing hair. The song floats away from them, out over the ocean; in gold and lurid pink it strikes the dark shapes of the creatures in an extravagance of light.
"Those are the princesses," I say.
Maraia nods. "The big song is taking them up into the light.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Can you taste the flavor of papaya and coconut? Can you hear the wind whistling through the palm trees on the beach? Can you see the arc of the horizon, where the Pacific Ocean meets the sky?”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Maybe Sina could plant some flowers? Ginger flowers and yellow allamanda. Bird-of-paradise flower. Delicate frangipani.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Can you please watch over Maraia, Lord? There's something special about Sai's little girl. She's always willing to help, and easy to love. No wonder Sai would rather keep her at home and hasn't sent her to school yet.
You know it's been hard for Sai, Lord. Her husband is gone, no one's seen him since he went to Suva to find work. Sai does what she can with her vegetables and her chickens, but she can barely scrape together enough for schoolbooks and a uniform for one of her two daughters. The older girl is the smarter one; Sai says she's going to be a doctor. Maraia is thoughtful and wise. As if she knows the secret of the sea turtles, or why the tagimoucia flower is the color of bleeding tears.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“From sorrow, sin, and deepest fear, protect me with your angel near.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Make sure you wear it on the left side. That means you're single and ready for new adventures. 'Left is for looking, right is for cooking.'"
Lisbeth giggles, almost blushes, and lifts her hand to her head reflexively. She's seen women on the street with flowers behind their ears, along the road, in stores, on their way home from the fields carrying baskets of cassava, the yellowish white root that's used in every meal. She's seen the red hibiscus, the bulging ginger blossom, the bewitchingly aromatic frangipani behind the ears of men too, but she wasn't aware of this secret code for courting.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“The chocolate mass is perfectly silky and stays at the right temperature; it slides, soft and supple, into the molds. Smooth, shiny bars of chocolate, eight millimeters thick; they glisten up at us, dark and inviting: Bite us, taste us, swallow us! Let us melt in your mouth!
The promise-laden snap when I break off a piece of happiness is like music, Chocolate Symphony No. 1. I let it rest on my tongue and wait as long as I can to swallow. The taste of the gods in the brownish purple beans fills my mouth until it flows over and spills down my throat.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“There's an old saying that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. It's been three weeks now, Armand, and the stench is pretty strong. I don't know how long you're planning to stay in Fiji, but in any event, this is your last evening in my vale.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Kokoda isn't actually sushi, it's fish cooked in lime juice. Ceviche, which is made in Central and South America, is prepared in the same way. It's a chemical process, the citric acid denatures the proteins in the flesh of the fish so the molecules change their structure”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“I think it might be a blessing not to have children," she says. "The fear of everything that could happen. The worrying about their future."
I know exactly what she means, and complete her thought: "The disappointment over how they turned out.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“The enthusiasm in his words, but most of all, this is what I saw: This is for me. He loves me. The sweet, heavy pleasure it takes months to cultivate, a long and laborious process: the love in the glistening fat brown cocoa bean. It's all for me.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“It's like fårikål." Maya's tone is matter-of-fact recalling the traditional pungent dish of boiled cabbage and mutton with bone, seasoned with whole black peppercorns. "There's nothing better when you only get it once in a while. Seasonally. But if it were on your plate every day, you'd eventually start to lose your appetite for mutton. Sometimes the smell is enough. Or just the thought of it fills you up."
Lisbeth is not the only one grinning now, she knows Kat and Sina are picturing the same thing she is: a naked Steinar with twisted ram's horns covering his ears. His pointy nose quivering, sniffing boiled cabbage and peppercorns.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“How nice that you want to come to church with us, Maraia."
The girl's eyes are filled with a golden light, her tiny voice is strong and sure.
"When someone calls, we must come.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“The one night a year when millions of balolo, tiny sea worms, come up from the deep and transform the surface of the sea into a billowing, undulating carpet. The small deep-water serpent that's lifted up by the full moon for one single, magical night to lay its eggs and sperm in a gelatinous soup- it's a gastronomic delicacy the people of Korototoka can't get enough of.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Did you take part in the chocolate production directly?" she asks, without quite knowing why. Maybe because she can't imagine his bulky fists tinkering with soft caramel and finely ground licorice powder.
"Oh, yes. Every step in the process. White chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate." A much younger man smiles through the wrinkles surrounding his brown eyes. "There isn't a sweet temptation that doesn't lure me in."
Ingrid has to smile back, feels the optimism like a gust breezing through her. No, like a taste on her tongue! Wildrid can feel the saliva pooling behind her teeth: soft mint spreading out on the back of her tongue, salty caramel sticking to her molars. Chili chocolate burning the inside of her cheeks, rum cream with ginger melting down her throat.
"Pineapple truffle!" she says. "Mango nougat! Marzipan-covered kiwi!"
Johnny looks at her and chuckles. "I thought you said you wanted to start slowly and carefully?"
The others grow quiet and Ingrid stops, embarrassed by her outburst. An erotic poem wrapped in cellophane.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“It's as if the light changes color when Maraia and Madam Maya are together. I heard them singing this afternoon. Maraia's high-pitched voice, and Madam Maya's with deeper and looser tones. They sat on the floor with two brown and green pieces of fabric between them, which they had folded into the shape of small animals with bodies and heads. "We sing for the turtles," Maraia said. She must have told Madam Maya about the princesses Tinaicaboga and Raudalice, who were transformed into turtles when they were kidnapped by fishermen from a village on Kadavu. They found a way to escape, but they had to go on living as sea turtles in the bay off the island.
Maraia knew the song as well, the one the women in the princesses' village sing to them from the cliffs on the beach.

The women of Namuana are dressed for grief
They carry their holy clubs, decorated in strange patterns
Raudalice, come up and show yourself to us!
Tinaicaboga, come up and show yourself to us!

When the women sing, the giant turtles come up to the surface and listen.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Just before she passes the harbor the sun begins to swoop down the sky, piercing holes in the clouds and forming columns of light. "Our Lord's fingers"- she suddenly recalls her mother's name for the slender rays that pierced through gray skies and reinvigorated the earth after soggy afternoons of rain. The columns melt as they reach the water, dissolving into a quivering glitter. It grows dark around her as the light is sucked into the sea; patches of pink and orange dance a few last, passionate steps across the sky. Maya remains standing as the dance keeps twirling inside her. How lovely just to stand here and let herself be overwhelmed, to let the lyrics fade and surrender to the melody.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“You can't see the view now, in the dark, but you can hear it, right?"
She can hear it. With her face turned toward the sea, Sina can hear Fiji welcoming her. A rush of sand against sand, a rhythm of water and moonlight and promises she can't decode. The breeze is warm against her clammy skin, a gust of something sweet and satisfied, a drop of honey on her tongue.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“Piper methysticum, the intoxicating pepper, is hammered into submission before it is mixed into the brew that's guzzled, seeps into the blood, and becomes part of the stories and songs at the tip of everyone's tongue. The bitter brown drink that bears holy truths and keeps honorable myths alive. The thud of the pestle in the kava mortar is the echo of the waves, Ingrid thinks. The rhythm of the dance underneath it all.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“She holds the acceptance letter in her hand; the sweet smell of the bird cherry tree wafts in through the open kitchen window. Her mother's apron is covered in black and purple flowers. Maya shuts her eyes, breathes in the spicy aroma of bird cherry blossoms.”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“They had read a fantastic book, a doorstop novel from India with colors and spices and music and poetry spilling out into the margins, a seven-course literary feast. After reading a brief biographical note about the author, they always went around the table. When it was Maya's turn, she was ready with yellow Post-its stuck in between the pages that held the paragraphs she wanted to read aloud. "I thought this book was like a tapestry," she'd begun, hearing her own voice sounding excited but focused. "Poetic and romantic descriptions of nature and art combined with a social message that's both brutal and-
provocative”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness