Alla Alex

“He used to believe good things happened in this kind of weather.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen

“Dreams are what keep you going, when real life lets you down.”
― Sharon Owens, The Tea House on Mulberry Street

“The tea ritual: such a precise repetition of the same gestures and the same tastes; accession to simple, authentic and refined sensations, a license given to all, at little cost, to become aristocrats of taste, because tea is the beverage of the wealthy and the poor; the tea ritual, therefore, has the extraordinary virtue of introducing into the absurdity of our lives an aperture of serene harmony. Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us. Then let us drink a cup of tea. Silence descends, one hears the wind outside, autumn leaves rustle and take flight, the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light. And, with each swallow, time is sublimed.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“She'd always known he didn't love her. But it was easier to bear when he didn't know she loved him. That way they were even. Now he knew he had all the power.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen