Alicia Smith

“I took a coffee and sipped at the rich flavor. I had heard recently that there were those who thought coffee disturbed a woman’s mind. I always found it rather sharpened mine. Perhaps that was the real objection to it.”
― Alison Goodman, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

“But the dandelion—this single flower that has given nourishment to countless other living creatures—is considered a weed.”
― Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore

“But here is the nature of life. That we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.”
― Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore

“I based the appalling conditions and treatment of the women at Bothwell House on reports about the infamous York Asylum and Bedlam Hospital found in the excellent book Bedlam by Paul Chambers. While York and Bedlam were public hospitals, a large number of private madhouses, as they were called, were run as profitable businesses by people who often had no experience or interest in treating those living with mental illness.”
― Alison Goodman, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies