Yannick Thoraval

“Old friends, said Dr Priya, are both simple and complicated. They tend to keep you one of two ways: either they hold you down and prevent you from evolving into someone they don’t want you to be; or they hold you accountable to your values, help you stay true to the best of yourself. One friend, my lovelies, is worth keeping, said Dr Priya. The other one is for letting go.”
― Yannick Thoraval, The Marriage Gap Year

“You'd almost expect to see a lighthouse on a spot like this, a green slope atop a rocky cliff overlooking a vast body of water. He'd worked on a lot of high-end homes with ocean views. Many of them were beautiful creations, ball gowns, made to twirl and glitter for all to see.

This was different. As he pulled up to the front of the house, he could see the full state of the place. It was no more than a two-storey stone cottage with a sagging roof and rotting windows, but this house had something those high-end places didn't. Mansions were about self-confidence. Bragging. This house was about humility. The people who moved here all those years ago would've been perched on the edge of the world. They would've seen an unforgiving ocean in front of them and a wilderness behind. There was no going back. This wasn't just a house. It was a monument to survival.”
― Yannick Thoraval, The Marriage Gap Year