Carol

“She was no use at maths homework, and some days you could starve rather than get a hot meal from her, but Shuggie looked at her now and understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grave and held her head high. When she had disgraced herself with drink, she got up the next day, put on her best coat, and faced the world. When her belly was empty and her weans were hungry, she did her hair and let the world think otherwise.”
― Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain

“The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been – which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.”
― Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

“he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another?”
― Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

“And that was the vow you realize Then there That long moment We're in it Two people that had ought to be dead and buried Now here you were in a room in a town together alive That's what the baby was telling you as she thumped around in your womb This is a miracle I will keep kicking until you get it.”
― Paul Murray, The Bee Sting