Peta Lee

“Violence,’ someone had once told Marnie, ‘isn’t what you think it is. It isn’t someone bursting into your home in the middle of the night. It’s a soft knock on the door in daylight. A knock that tells you the person outside has brought the worst possible news. News that’s going to change your life forever. Violence is waiting for a knock on the door, and realising your whole life is that knock.’

Violence isn’t what you think it is. And punishment isn’t prison. It’s waiting for that soft knock on the door. It’s never being free.”
― Sarah Hilary, Quieter Than Killing

“It was a paradox of life behind walls, that where any day could end in blood, every morning contrived to start exactly the same. A man woke and, for two beats of his heart, didn’t know where he was or what he’d become. Those few seconds were magic, a warm flicker before reality walked across his chest, the black dog of remembrance trailing at its feet.”
― John Hart, Redemption Road

“She kept her eyes on Channing when she could; saw the wounded blankness of all who are ruined young.”
― John Hart, Redemption Road

“I’ve thought of all the times when we could have forestalled damage to the children, but the truth is we were damaged ourselves. Even if we had worked that out, it wouldn’t have been much use. Those early wounds run deep.

Eve had been ignored as a child, controlled but neglected; longing for freedom and longing for affection, she was ridiculously generous with both, and I don’t just mean Martin. She trusted everyone. How would she have recognized cruelty when she was determined to love everyone she met?

Melly swapped one tyrant for another, her father for her husband; it’s hard to know who caused the most damage, especially as she was hell-bent on damaging herself. When you are anorexic, it actually does something to your vision; you can’t assess what you see properly. I heard that on the radio yesterday and I wanted to tell her, but I’m not sure if that would help; not now.

I was damaged by greed: my own. My grandfather told me that anything was possible; it wasn’t his fault that I believed him. I thought I could manage it all – work, marriage, kids, writing, being scared. That was wrong, or worse, half right. He forgot to add that anything is possible, but not on your own. He might have thought that was completely obvious; I grew up in an African village, after all. I should have asked for help when I needed it. He told me to walk slowly and he was right. I might have noticed what was there in front of me. You can’t blame Melly for not seeing things properly, when I wasn’t watching either.”
― Jane Shemilt, Little Friends