Rebecca

“It is damned, that house. It’s a greedy house. It takes. You said once, Col, that it would bring out the best in whoever lived there. You were wrong. It takes the best. It took that miserable Pie’s kid, and her marriage, and her daddy. It took that poor sonofabitch Buddy’s whole future. It took that Abbott guy’s future. It’s taking Anita Sheehan’s sanity—I know damned well there was more to her little ‘setback’ than you told me, Col—and it took my talent. And tonight it almost took you and Walter away from each other for good. Don’t you see that? Don’t either of you see that?”
― Anne Rivers Siddons, The House Next Door

“What we feel when we read does not remain on the page. We take it with us. We absorb it. It doesn’t have to change us, exactly (though it can), but it does affect us. It becomes part of the accumulation of all the little moments that make up our lives. Whether you read for education, for understanding, for a challenge, for fun, for relaxation, for escape, for another reason, or any combination of these, those hours have meaning. Reading is a solitary act that nevertheless connects you to others. It sets your interiority ablaze with ideas, connections, disagreements, or pleasures. In the process, you also learn to recognize — and to value — the world inside your mind.”
― Rebecca Romney, Jane Austen's Bookshelf

“The pretty is part of it of course. That’s its draw. That’s the bait.”
― Anne Rivers Siddons, The House Next Door

“Being known is beautiful. Especially when they know the worst things about you and choose you anyway.”
― Sarah Adams, In Your Dreams