Carol Van Den Hende > Quotes

“His gaze slalomed down her face, maybe marveling, like she did, how sixteen years could pass with no sense of time, how family is rare and finite yet can slip away,
how features and mannerisms marked them as the same tribe.”
― Carol Van Den Hende, Goodbye, Orchid

“From the back seat, he stared at the blue accessible parking tag she must’ve ordered. Above the seated figure in a wheelchair, the placard was stamped in capital letters:
PERMANENT.
Like I need a reminder that this isn’t temporary?
As they merged into traffic, the hangcard swung from the rearview mirror like a noose.”
― Carol Van Den Hende, Goodbye, Orchid

“Scars wound like pale red tentacles over misshapen flesh. The sutures were gone but the raised, ropy skin stretched taut in the shape of each menacing stitch. Living death. Every nurse, therapist, doctor and family member had colluded in the grandiose lie that he was going to be able to do what he wanted.
What the hell were they talking about?”
― Carol Van Den Hende, Goodbye, Orchid

“actually, you being sensitive means you have more empathy than all those people
who say they’d never be able to make it through what I did.”
― Carol Van Den Hende, Goodbye, Orchid

“Confucius believes that an orchid’s character shines through, no matter what hardships she endures.”
― Carol Van Den Hende, The Complete Goodbye Orchid Trilogy: Orchid Blooming, Goodbye, Orchid, Always Orchid contemporary love stories