Suzanne Fortin > Quotes

“It was poisonous, stale and evil inside the house - Billy was the carbon dioxide to her oxygen, and she didn't want to be anywhere near him”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Nate was a great believer in never asking his employees to do anything he wouldn't do himself. Damn it. He hated having morals sometimes”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“She could have afforded something bigger and more modern, had she been willing to compromise on location, but she'd hated the thought of not being able to wake up to the sound of the sea crashing on the shoreline and the seagulls squawking overhead. It gave her a sense of freedom, something which had been lacking during the years she'd spent growing up in the care of the local authority”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Imogen gazed without focus into the depths of her locker. So, now she knew why there was a saying about eavesdroppers never hearing any good of themselves. She had no idea the other women in the office felt that way about her”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost

“RHODA 2022 - She liked to come out here when the first craggy fingers of dawn were breaking across the horizon. When she could hear nothing but the lap of the water against her ears as she floated on her back, turned away from the shore and gazing out as the morning sun broke cover. When the world rotated and another day tempted her with promises of good times and better things to come, and when she hoped that by the time the earth had turned on its axis, those promises would be fulfilled”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“It somehow made her feel closer to him and she relished that connection but, of course, it also hurt like hell. And that was the thing about losing someone, the pain and grief suffocated the love and memories”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost

“Nate got out of the car and was rather surprised to see his father smile at Rhoda. That was a quick turnaround. She was like some sort of horse whisperer but with grumpy old farmers instead”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Papa always told us that to be brave doesn't mean you have no fear, it just means you can move forwards in spite of that fear. I never truly understood what he meant when I was younger. It wasn't the sort of fear of being told off for arguing with my younger brother, Pierre, or for being late getting up, or for daydreaming of playing my flute in an orchestra when I should be concentrating on my schoolwork. No, that's not the sort of fear Papa meant. He was talking about the fear that makes the heart race, that quickens the pulse, makes sweat gather in the armpits and the hairs prickle on the back of the neck. The fear that bunches up the stomach, tightens itself, so there is a constant feeling of sickness, almost a pain”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost

“Love isn't always about keeping someone. Sometimes it's about letting them go”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Well, I think you should leave the past in the past. Things happened during the war that might not have happened any other time. You won't be doing anyone any favours digging up a load of trouble after all this time”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Alice couldn't help smiling. She'd never known anyone like Brett before - certainly none of the lads in the village. They wouldn't dream of talking so openly or tenderly to a woman. Christ, they'd more likely talk lovingly to their bloody cows before they would their girlfriend”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Sometimes, the art of winning is not one big demonstrative action, but many small actions, continuous actions - on their own they seem insignificant, but together they amount to something meaningful”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost

“They had all come here to have their babies in secret and to give up their flesh and blood for adoption. In Alice's mind, the rooms and the hallway echoed with their silent tears; the carpets absorbed their sorrow and the curtains soaked up their despair”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“She'd been big on scrapbooking in her before life, never in life after James though. No one needed to record the utter grief and heartbreak so they could look back at it in years to come, just to relive those days when life couldn't possibly be any darker and the future looked an impossible fantasy”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost

“Nate was back within a few minutes and sat in the armchair on the other side of the fireplace to his father, Rhoda had already seated herself on the sofa, while DS Shepherd remained standing. She had to withhold a smile at the thought they looked as if they were on the set of an Agatha Christie mystery, and the policeman was just about to reveal the name of the killer. They only needed a gardener, a maid and an eccentric aunt to complete the cast”
― Suzanne Fortin, Beyond a Broken Sky

“Grieving just didn't stop and come to an end. It was always there, just not so raw, not so painful and not so dominant”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost

“I studied the man in front of me. It was hard to see beyond the uniform and not see the German soldier, part of the occupying force, but if I looked closer there was a man, a person, someone with compassion and empathy standing there”
― Suzanne Fortin, All That We Have Lost