Louvisa

“We both lay back down, and she looked at me in the eyes, and we were sad together for a while. I’ll never forget how that felt. Like not being hungry.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

“Only then, in the quietness beneath, did the new feeling arrive. It was shame . Shame that she had quit her job, shame that she did not paint, shame that she had married Frank, shame that he was in love with someone else, shame that she had run to Anders for comfort, shame that he had discarded her, shame that Frank drank like he did, shame that they let Jesus die, shame that Frank had let her tear apart the whole apartment looking for her before coming clean about what he’d done, shame that she’d covered for him and told everyone that Jesus had escaped, shame that it was her secret now too, shame that she was too afraid to leave him when she said she would, shame that her mother was dead and she could not ask her for advice, shame that her mother didn’t want to be her mother enough to not be dead, just shame, shame, shame.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“It’s a luxury to be the owner of one’s time. I think it’s one of the greatest luxuries human beings can afford themselves.”
― Valérie Perrin, Fresh Water for Flowers

“The thought occured to him that if you listened hard enough in New York, you could always hear a siren. Someone, somewhere, was always getting hurt.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein