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“But Nicole was left with thoughts of Ethel, Christina, and the Italian woman, women who had given up their lives and moved here to Nigeria for a man. Their wants and needs were secondary. They had made themselves expendable to some man’s dream to “go home,” to pursue his raison d’être at the expense of theirs. And once you were there, you were taken for granted. A seen unseen. You were part of their storyline. And it was worth it when they loved you, when things were good; but when you were forgotten, discarded, you had to find your own reasons to be in place. You had to go back to living for you.”
― Vanessa Walters, The Nigerwife

“Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift. ”
― Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

“It sounded to Claudine as if he’d been bullied into going. To make things look good. But she knew that trying to make your parents happy was like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it. She was living proof that no matter what you did, they never loved you back if it wasn’t in them. If you just weren’t in their thoughts like that, there was nothing you could do about it. But she could tell Tonye wasn’t ready to hear that. And probably never would be.”
― Vanessa Walters, The Nigerwife