Caroline

“I wish people could understand that masking is so much more than biting your tongue and forcing yourself to be as average as possible. It's about supressing basic physiological needs. It's about hiding the parts of yourself that come naturally, so they don't seem unnatural to others. It's physical. It's insidious.”
― Elle McNicoll, Keedie

“Sometimes I feel like one day every other girl was given instructions on how to grow up, and I missed the lesson.”
― Sasha Peyton Smith, The Rose Bargain

“Some lives are all too brief, while others are a continual struggle. I couldn’t help thinking that it was a brutal assessment of people’s lives to employ usefulness to society as a yardstick by which to measure their value.”
― Durian Sukegawa, Sweet Bean Paste

“Our clever bargains for shinier hair or prettier feet are just another line item on our wifely résumés, proving that we are good girls. Rose Bargains, they’re called. Bargains to make us beautiful, fragile, sweet—perfect English roses.”
― Sasha Peyton Smith, The Rose Bargain