Richard Derus

“We are like books. Most people only see our cover, the minority read only the introduction, many people believe the critics. Few will know our content”
― Émile Zola

“Death has been kind to me, I thought. I haven't been run over by a lorry. I haven't fallen to a stray bullet. I have not been hastened toward death—rather, death has only dreamed of me; it has only knocked at my door. Tap, tap, tap. "I'm thinking of coming for you tonight at nightfall," death had said.”
― Patrícia Melo, The Simple Art of Killing a Woman

“It seemed to be raising a piece of me that had been forgotten, something stifled inside me, a piece that on coming free levered up another, and so on and so on, down to the last lost piece, the furthest fallen, as good as buried—the one called "mother.”
― Patrícia Melo, The Simple Art of Killing a Woman

“The conclusion I reached by my second week in court was this: we women are dying like flies. You men get hammered and kill us. Men want to fuck and kill us. Men get enraged and kill us. Men want a bit of fun and kill us. Men discover our lovers and kill us. We leave them and men kill us. Men get another lover and kill us. Men come home tired after work and kill us.”
― Patrícia Melo, The Simple Art of Killing a Woman