Jaime Justice

“Flipping through, the first thing she came across was a restaurant menu featuring animals and rodents in a reference to the starvation of residents during the Siege of Paris of 1870-71 − horse soup, dog cutlets, ragout of cat, roast ostrich, fricassee of rats and mice? The French and their obsession with food presentation.”
― Theasa Tuohy, Mademoiselle le Sleuth

“Wigmore turned towards the window. A column of armoured vehicles was making its way down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace. As he watched, he cursed himself for not remaining at the hotel. He looked at Merlin. ‘Very well. Go ahead with your bloody questions.”
― Mark Ellis, Death of an Officer

“ 
Which nose do I touch, wondered Garth, ‘and do I really want to touch any of those vile snouts?’ He studied the skeins of drool that hung from the dog’s jaws and felt himself shudder. But surely this would be a small price to pay to win the preferment of this powerful beast. Garth decided that touching one nose would be sufficient and took a step forward.”
― Graham Pryor, Cerberus

“Hayes and his colleagues have distilled these insights into seven skills for coping with loss. In more than a thousand studies over thirty-five years, they’ve found that the acquisition of this skill set predicts whether people facing loss fall into anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse—or whether they thrive. The first five skills involve acceptance of the bitter. First, we need to acknowledge that a loss has occurred; second, to embrace the emotions that accompany it. Instead of trying to control the pain, or to distract ourselves with food, alcohol, or work, we should simply feel our hurt, sorrow, shock, anger. Third, we need to accept all our feelings, thoughts, and memories, even the unexpected and seemingly inappropriate ones, such as liberation, laughter, and relief. Fourth, we should expect that sometimes we’ll feel overwhelmed. And fifth, we should watch out for unhelpful thoughts, such as “I should be over this,” “It’s all my fault,” and “Life is unfair.” Indeed, the ability to accept difficult emotions—not just observe them, not just breathe through them, but actually, nonjudgmentally, accept them—has been linked repeatedly to long-term thriving.”
― Susan Cain, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole