Maria

“Grief suffocated. Grief paralysed. Grief was a cruel, heavy boot pressed so hard against his chest that he could not breathe.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“Here was yet another person telling him what he needed, how he should act, the person he should be. Another person who didn't think he was enough just as he was.”
― Douglas Stuart, Young Mungo

“I got up every day thinking the sun was out there shining, and it could just as well shine on me as any other human person.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

“It was a nothing that felt like an everything.”
― Douglas Stuart, Young Mungo