Hala Naser

“Tell a woman she is beautiful, and she might—it’s very possible—feel
like a fool. Roses die quick. They will do.
The girl you want does not exist.
The girl you want does exist.
But not like that. And not like that. Or like that. Or like that.
She is sitting across from you, looking just beyond you—at herself.”
― Durga Chew-Bose, Too Much and Not the Mood: Essays

“I’m Abriella, the responsible one. The tough one. The boring one……The lonely one”
― Lexi Ryan, These Hollow Vows

“I see on your cheek two tears which I know are hot as two sparks, and salt as two crystals of the sea.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“My main memory from those early years is of fun and laughter and love – and also a deep connection with Wales. I didn’t realize it at the time – it was all I knew – but speaking Welsh around the dinner table was another bond, both with each other and with our community. The sense of belonging and being surrounded by family love made us very secure. And the simplicity of the way we lived – not in luxury, by any means, but not hankering after things we couldn’t have, or being led astray or feeling we were missing out on anything – was deeply ingrained.
It was a very Welsh childhood, and to me completely magical. It was the mould I came from, by which I have always been indelibly marked. It was the making of me.”
― David Nott, War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line