Miranda Rijks > Quotes

“Sometimes kindness can be as blindsiding as grief.”
― Miranda Rijks, The Arrangement

“The truth is, until something dreadful happens to you, you don’t know how you’ll react.”
― Miranda Rijks, Violets Are Blue

“That’s the trouble with insomnia. It wraps you in a heavy armour that stops you from feeling, especially positive emotions. It makes you focus on the problems and the negativity.”
― Miranda Rijks, The Insomniac

“A lorry drives into the left lane from a slip road and I’m forced to pull over into the fast lane. A loud horn. A red saloon is right behind me, flashing its lights. Where did he come from? I pull back into the slow lane, and he gesticulates at me as he drives past, water sloshing up onto my windscreen.”
― Miranda Rijks, I Want You Gone

“I flinch. I would prefer hatred from my wife because at least that’s a true emotion, and don’t they say that love is just a small step from hate, whereas indifference is the most cutting of all.”
― Miranda Rijks, The House Swap

“Or should we kill someone because with their life extinguished, our life – or the lives of those we love – will be so much better?”
― Miranda Rijks, The Homemaker

“If I had to have a pet, I’d choose a cat. I respect their independence, the way they can see in the dark and prowl through the night, how they move stealthily, hopping up onto surfaces with a mind of their own. Dogs, on the other hand, are a pain. They need feeding and walking and crave affection.”
― Miranda Rijks, Don't Answer the Phone

“And that’s the perennial question, isn’t it? I was so proud that I was an architect, a professional with a label and letters after my name. A somebody who everyone knew was clever and had worked hard and had achieved a lot. It was my identity. As schoolgirls, we’re all taught that we need to aspire to great things, that education and the world of work will open up unlimited opportunities for us. And indeed it does . . . until we have children. Then we have to choose.”
― Miranda Rijks, The New Neighbour

“Please can you call Hugo, the son of our next door neighbours at number 32 on 07987543696.”
― Miranda Rijks, The House Swap

“hear”
― Miranda Rijks, The Arrangement

“it’s not him per se that she has an issue with. It’s the fact that I gave up my dreams in order to be with him.”
― Miranda Rijks, What She Knew

“the”
― Miranda Rijks, The Second Wife

“want”
― Miranda Rijks, The Visitors

“smooth-skinned mother-in-law a little old lady.”
― Miranda Rijks, Just One Bite

“away from you. How would you feel?’ She”
― Miranda Rijks, The Only Child

“In the end, I grieved for the husband I thought I had, and that process may well last a lifetime.”
― Miranda Rijks, Every Breath You Take

“Laura Ruth Swallow, née Carson, passed away suddenly on October 28 after suffering fatal injuries in a car accident. She is survived by her ex-husband, Ian, from whom she is divorced, and her daughter, Melissa. In life, there was no notable contribution, nothing remarkable. In death, there will be celebration.”
― Miranda Rijks, I Want You Gone

“None of us really knows what is going on behind marital closed doors.”
― Miranda Rijks, Roses Are Red

“I have nothing to do in this place other than indulge in my memories, and it’s nigh impossible to keep out the bad ones. Why is it that terrible memories are so vivid, yet happy ones fade?”
― Miranda Rijks, You Are Mine

“Durham, with its imposing cathedral and Norman castle, and follow my satnav to where Abi lived. It is a small red-brick terraced house with white window frames and”
― Miranda Rijks, The Arrangement

“see it now. I possess a brutality and lack of empathy, yet for the whole of my life I thought I was a good person. I was wrong.”
― Miranda Rijks, The Homemaker

“That’ll be £12.60 for the three buns and £10.20 for the coffees. Total £22.80, please. Apple Pay?”
― Miranda Rijks, The House Swap

“A red saloon is right behind me, flashing its lights.”
― Miranda Rijks, I Want You Gone

“When people resist planning it’s usually because they think they’re going to create a cage for themselves that will inhibit their creativity, but it’s not a cage, it’s a scaffold—something that you build upon, something that gives you a blueprint and a structure that will allow your creativity to flow within it.”
― Miranda Rijks, The Rapid Novel Blueprint: How to write bestselling books fast

“pool and drink rosé from the local vineyards. This holiday is very much overdue. The rental car bounces over potholes, jerking us from one side to the next, the tyres throwing up powdery white chalk that settles as fine dust over the bonnet of the dark grey vehicle. ‘You’d have thought they might have filled in some of the potholes,’ Lewis moans. ‘It’s not going to be easy to cycle on this.”
― Miranda Rijks, The House Swap

“it’s impossible to get into the heads of other people, even those you think you know the best.”
― Miranda Rijks, Every Breath You Take

“coat”
― Miranda Rijks, One Little Mistake