Allie

“Are you tired?” he said, looking at me closely. Was I? I was wide awake, and yet part of me was so glassed-off and numb I was practically in a coma. “If you’d rather have company? Perhaps if I build a fire in the other room? Tell me what you want.” At this question, I felt a sharp rush of despair—for as bad as I felt there was nothing he could do for me, and from his face, I realized he knew that, too.”
― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

“All up and down the street the houses looked like any others—but inside them were people who might be happy, or taking refuge, or steeling themselves to go out into the world, searching for something better. So many lives she would never know about, unfolding behind those doors.”
― Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere

“All babies had that same wise look, as if they’d just come from another realm where they’d learned some beautiful truth they couldn’t share.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“I remember this lunch in great detail because I remember it as being the last time he was happy-Dad with me.”
― Paul Tremblay, A Head Full of Ghosts