And what is love at first sight but recognition?

When you get home, tell them how large the world is, and how green. And tell them that the beauty of the world makes demands on you. They will need reminding. If you believe the world is small and tawdry, it is easier to be so yourself. But the world is so tall and so beautiful a place.

Perhaps, she thought, that’s what love does. It’s not there to make you feel special. It’s to make you brave. It was like a ration pack in the desert, she thought, like a box of matches in a dark wood. Love and courage, thought Sophie—two words for the same thing.

Her heart was dancing double-time.

I was afraid that my heart had simply...run out. But it transpires that the heart has its own petrol station, its own coal, it's own soap. It will renew, so use it hugely.

There's a lot writing about love at first sight. And what is love at first sight but recognition? It's instant knowledge: that this is a person who will make your heart larger - a lover, a child. The same applies to places.