『...........❀ chrysanthemum ✄.............』

“I try to imagine the same line paired with the Polaroids Strane took of me at fifteen, my heavy-lidded eyes and swollen lips, or with the photos I took of myself at seventeen, standing before a backdrop of birch trees, lifting my skirt as I stared at the camera, looking like a Lolita and knowing exactly what I wanted, what I was. I wonder how much victimhood they'd be willing to grant a girl like me.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

“I'm not going to call myself a victim... He said it himself—with me, it was different. He loved me, he loved me.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

“She stepped up close to Lib and whispered, 'Mammy and Dadda think he's in heaven. Only, you see, we can't be sure of that. Never despair, but never presume, they're the two unforgiveable sins against the Holy Ghost. If Pat's in purgatory, he's burning—'
'Oh, Anna,' said Lib, breaking in. 'You're distressing yourself needlessly. He was only a boy.'
'But we're all sinners. And he fell sick so fast, he didn't get absolved in time.' Tears plummeted into the girl's collar.”
― Emma Donoghue, The Wonder

“If Earth was such unworthy soil for God's best specimens, why did he perversely plant them there?”
― Emma Donoghue, The Wonder