“When my relationship ended with Gabriel all those years ago, I was devastated for a while, and then I did what every self-respecting woman would do: I shut the door on it, on him. I taught myself to think of Gabriel as someone who belonged to my teenage years, a first crush, little more to me than my brief fixation with the singer Johnnie Ray. Seeing Gabriel again, like this, in the place where we once meant so much to each other, could she,e me to my core if I let it.” LoveHistoryHeartbreakMemoryNostalgiaCrush Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country
“Oh, I'm an incorrigible snob, according to my son." Tessa says it with pride. And I catch something that explains her to me, better than Gabriel has ever been able to. I don't think she's from this world originally, much as she pretends otherwise. One she almost walked out on but didn't, that's why it matters to her. It's a consolation prize, and she guards it closely.” WealthPrideJustificationConsolationSnob Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country
“Lives should be measured in intensity. Remember mine For its glory-stretch of furious light and wondrous beauty.” InspirationalPoetryWomenNostalgiaEpicPassionate LivingSecond ChancesLoss Of LoveLoss Of A Child Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country
“Young children, like animals, can sense your pain without fearing it.” Fear Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country
“I've been a little selfish, I think, telling Leo about Bobby, just because it was a way of helping me to keep his memory fresh. Trouble is, no one lets me talk about him. Frank can't often bear it because he's so steeped in guilt he manages to carry on only by acting as if Bobby never existed. I worry for Frank. Where will it end, all this unresolved grief that has no place to go? His way of coping is to work himself into the ground so that he falls into an exhausted sleep each night, ready to start over again at sunrise.” LossGriefCopingPretendIgnoreExist Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country
“I knew I shouldn't talk about Bobby so much. But Leo was curious about him, he kept asking questions. And no one else asks me about him, ever. It's like Bobby is a ghost everyone has forgotten. And I miss him. I miss him so much. I loved telling Leo about him. Once I started, I just couldn't stop.” LoveParentLossForgottenGhostChildMissing Someone Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country
“I was right, our lovemaking is more than sex, more than love, it is pure, unadulterated nostalgia and there is nothing more intoxicating than that. I wonder if it is always like this when you sleep with someone you once loved long ago. The knowledge of that first time is hardwired into your physiology. It feels raw and right and so real, everything else fades, just the two of us in high relief.” SexFirst TimeNostalgia Book:Broken Country Source: Broken Country