Libby Page > Quotes

“The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“I am the person I am because of the books I have read.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“But isn't that one of the great things about fiction?" he says. "It's an escape. Somewhere to go when you don't want to be where you are.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“Reading has brought me a sense of escape through some of the hardest times in my life”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“When Kate was younger, stories were her friends when she found people challenging. She searched them out, hiding among them in the library and tucking herself into their pages. She folded herself into the shape of Hermione Granger or George from The Famous Five or Catherine Moreland from Northanger Abbey and tried to be them for a day. When she started secondary school her friends were the characters she met in the pages of her books. They sat with her in the library as she snuck mouthfuls of sandwich behind books so the librarian wouldn't see. (The librarian always saw, but pretended not to.)”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“Tilly always thought of bookshops as a gathering place: all these books lined up neatly on the shelves like potential friends she just hasn't met yet.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“Sometimes life calls for a pillow fort.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“Sometimes hope can be the most painful thing.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“I am the person I am because of the books I have read. My reading history is a map that shows the path of my life.”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“Maybe I was incredibly naive, but I wanted all of him, always. That was the only way I knew how to love him.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“When you're my age you'll understand,' she says. 'You begin to miss yourself.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“She took the loneliness out of being alone.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“Love is love like a tree is a tree. It can be a sapling or a hundred years old oak, but it still has a rout, lifetime and is left on mercy and disfavor of the seasons”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“Up until now Tilly has thought of her grief as a darkness, but she loves the idea of it being a light instead--a light that could shine and be spotted by other people who have experienced something similar.”
― Libby Page

“but I never really felt comfortable leaving Molly alone with them even if I couldn’t have told you in words exactly why – it was more a lingering sense of unease, a feeling of wanting to hold my daughter tightly to me whenever we were around them. But despite”
― Libby Page, The Island Home

“She was close to tears and I felt that old guilt and sadness rip through me – that I haven’t been able to give my daughter more. So many times, I’ve pictured a different kind of life for her. A life full of people: grandparents, cousins, siblings maybe, a father.”
― Libby Page, The Island Home

“It was rare that she got dressed up and went out, but each time a dinner party or the Christmas dinner with the other library staff came round she would stand in front of the mirror asking George to tell her if the dress was too short or too long, whether her makeup was okay, and if her hair looked fussy or too plain. He always smiled and told her she looked beautiful but she didn't believe him. She would believe him now - she was beautiful. She hopes Kate realizes it before she is eighty-seven.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“That my parents were not incapable of love, I was just unlovable.”
― Libby Page, The Island Home

“It’s a city I’ve lived in for years, but a place where I’ve never made a network of friends or found a sense of really belonging. I can see now that it’s my own fault – I built walls around myself in an attempt to protect myself and my daughter. Maybe those walls kept some pain out but they also shut out joy. This is the place and the life I chose, but this summer has shown me how small my life here has been. How small my entire life has become.”
― Libby Page, The Island Home

“She nods and I realise how refreshing it is to speak to this woman who grew up with my husband. She may not have seen him in years but she knows him in a way that perhaps no one else does. That’s just the way with siblings. They are with you throughout those pivotal moments that shape you into the person you will eventually become. I don’t think that thread can ever really be broken, not completely.”
― Libby Page, The Island Home

“Maybe it's only about one thing, but even that is something. At that moment the darkness, although still lurking from background, withdraws.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“...Mona feels isolated, the weight of her worries, thoughts, and anxieties hers and hers alone to carry. She thinks suddenly that this is probably why we need friends -- because however self-reliant and composed we may seem, none of us are quite strong enough to get through life shouldering these weights on our own.”
― Libby Page, The 24-Hour Café

“No one would think you aren’t happy for her,” Alfie says softly. “But it’s OK to feel happy and sad at the same time. Very few moments involve just one emotion. That’s life”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

“In a large townhouse, a family is spread out across its rooms, each living in their own state but under one flag”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“Never be sorry,’ she says, a storm in her eyes. ‘Never be sorry for feeling. Never be sorry for falling in love.”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“Bookshops aren't just bookshops. They're places for book lovers to come together, like-minded souls meeting among the stacks. They're hubs of the community and the arena for heated conversations about the latest must-read series. They are safe places to step in out of the rain, no matter who you are. And they need our support, now more than ever.”
― Libby Page

“Farleigh-”
― Libby Page, The Lifeline

“Tickets for the Brixton Academy tonight,’ yells a ticket tout at the station entrance. ‘Buying and selling, tickets for the”
― Libby Page, The Lido

“Maybe this is what books do”
― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You