Suzanne Goldring > Quotes

“My dearest darling,”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“We'll always have reminders of this time, Gaby,' he said, lightly touching his maimed ear. 'I can paint over an image or rub out a sketch, but I'll never forget what I have seen. Those who remain will have to remember to tell the stories of those who have gone”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“lie awake”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“I am no longer afraid of being judged. I have hidden the truth for so many years, but I have little time left to me now, so facing judgement or even a prison sentence vould not be so very hard for me to bear”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“But what did he know? What did he really know about the filth, the stench that permeated every pore? He'd seen it of course, they all had. Some of them had been taken there in the early days, others had seen the newsreels. No amount of soap and water could ever cleanse those memories. That's why even now, even though she is in her early nineties, she has to scrub her nails clean, polish every stick of furniture, sweep every inch of floor and constantly wash clothes and linen. You could never be too clean, but being dirty is another matter. Diseases and death are the consequences of dirt”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“Not quite burnt, but a faint smell rises from the fabric, reminding her that purgatory awaits those who have not mended their ways. She puts the hot iron aside and examines the sheet. Luckily the brown scorch is not along the top edge with its drawn threadwork. Like her, the shameful mark is not visible and will never be seen”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“Maybe she could really love this man after all, she thought. She'd never imagined before that she could, she'd only ever been able to think of him as her rescuer, her saviour, but now he was more than that. Dear, decent Reg had been transformed and was now her lover”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“crept”
― Suzanne Goldring, Burning Island

“He always was a bit of a child. I think perhaps all artists are. They learn to play with what isn't real and embellish it with their imagination”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“All you do is put four ounces of grated Cheddar cheese and three tablespoons of beer in a small heavy pan and stir over a low heat till it melts to a thick cream. Then add an ounce of butter, a teaspoon of made mustard and seasonings. I then heated it till it was nearly boiling. Then you spoon it over toast and place in the oven until brown. Some recipes recommend including an egg, but Mother always said with so much cheese there was no need to waste a precious”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Shut-Away Sisters

“Do all single parents, well, the conscientious ones that is, alone through choice, abandonment or bereavement, feel they have to perform the role of both parents?”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“When I look at his paintings I see his interpretation of those times, again and again,' Gabriella said. 'I can see how it coloured every subject he painted, even right until the very end with his final piece of work”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“Barkingside. Got to get this one bathed and in bed after tea.’ ‘Yes, I’ve got to get the tea here”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl Without a Name

“Peter’s mother continued to complain to her patient blond son as they ate, but Peter kept reassuring her that all would be well in good time. Eva felt at ease in their simple but welcoming home and her sympathy for the ordinary German people, who had been forced into a system and a war they had not wanted, began to grow.”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“The soldiers laughed and marched off, leaving her dangling as a warning to other independent, courageous young women that their youth and their beauty were no protection from punishment”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“clicked, she heard him bark, ‘Right, as you were. Back to it, chaps.”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“Such good people, the ordinary people of Germany, kept in ignorance of what had been done in their name. Out here in the countryside, far away from any camps, they could have no idea of the evils perpetrated by their government”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“Is this the rewriting of history, she thinks. Do the facts have to be watered down before schoolchildren can learn about the real horror? She had prepared herself for Freddie to find their visit upsetting, but now she thinks he may not gain a full understanding of the inhumanity inflicted in that dreadful time”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“And so many getting away with it! There were thousands of these monsters and only a tiny proportion is ever going to pay for their hideous crimes. The rest will try to sneak back to their old lives, trying to pretend they had nothing whatsoever to do with the camps and the slave labour.”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“Damn you, she said to herself, shaking her head. Why couldn't you have arranged this trip earlier? In fact, why didn't you just tell us about the pictures while you were still here, you arrogant bastard? Then she paced up and down. It was getting late, the northern sky patterned with a fringe of pink and gold cast by the setting sun. You're not going to get away with this, she thought. I'm going to give Phoebe some ridiculous explanations just to get her off my back and then I'm going to Florence. I'm going to dig and dig, until I find out what you've been trying to tell us and the world all these years. You won't be able to hide yourself any more after that, will you?”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“She knows only the top edge of the sheet will show, but she can't help herself; she has to iron the whole thing, section by section. Smoothing out the tiny creases left by the wash and the breeze, it feels as if she is ironing out her life, removing its problems and putting all in order”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“basket,”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“Early every morning, for so many years she can't remember, after plumping her pillows and smoothing the ironed edge of the crisp white sheet that folds over her blankets, Anna lowers herself to her knees beside her bed, not for morning prayers, but to check that all is in order. It is harder now than when she first acquired the habit; her joints creak and it is an effort both to dip down to the bedside rug and then to stand up again”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“down”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“egg as well.”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Shut-Away Sisters

“Sometimes the young can relate to the elderly on a different level and have a special relationship with them”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Woman Outside The Walls

“keys”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“Dissenting Italians, classed as troublemakers or partisans, were mostly either hanged or imprisoned, but some were sent to Germany to boost the labour force and others were sent further away. She wasn't sure where they were sent, but she was sure it wasn't pleasant and that their chances of returning were slim”
― Suzanne Goldring, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

“come down”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva

“I want to know and yet I don’t – I just want to help people get back to some kind of normal life.”
― Suzanne Goldring, My Name Is Eva