“I remember when the houses used to whiz by as I walked—nearly running—to and from home. Ma would ask me afterwards about what I’d seen, whether certain neighbours were out, what I thought about someone’s new garden wall. I’d never noticed; it had all gone past in a flash. Now I have plenty of time to look at everything, and no one to tell what I’ve seen.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“But it’s not true. I forget things—I know that—but I’m not mad. Not yet. And I’m sick of being treated as if I am. I’m tired of the sympathetic smiles and the little pats people give you when you get things confused, and I’m bloody fed up with everyone deferring to Helen rather than listening to what I have to say.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“I don’t look up. It’s such a little thing—knowing where to put cutlery—but I feel like I’ve failed an important test. A little piece of me is gone.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“Oh, Helen,” I say. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. That girl you’ve hired, she doesn’t do any work. None. I’ve watched her.” “Who are you talking about now? What girl?” “The girl,” I say. “She leaves plates by the sink and there are clothes all over the floor of her room.” Helen grins and bites her lip. “Pretty good description. Mum, that’s Katy.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“An ancient noise, like a fox bark, makes an attempt at the edges of my brain.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“Lost,” I say, dropping the photo on to the counter. “I’ve lost Elizabeth.” She pauses a moment and straightens to look at the photo. “Oh, was it an advert you wanted?” Breath floods into my lungs. “Yes. Yes, that’s it. I wanted to place an advert.” “I’ll get you a form. Awful, cats, aren’t they?” I nod, feeling as though I’ve missed some part of the conversation. I nod, but I quite like cats, and I wonder what this woman has against them. “I remember when my auntie lost her Oscar. She was frantic. Missing for weeks, he was. Found him in a beach hut in the end. Have you asked your neighbours to look in their sheds?” I stare at the woman. I can’t imagine finding Elizabeth in a shed. But perhaps it is a good suggestion. Perhaps it’s just me it doesn’t make sense to. I borrow a pen and write beach hut on a scrap of paper.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“The sun’s in my eyes and it’s difficult to see. The shape of her is distorted by the light, circles of her silhouette removed as if by a pastry cutter.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“I have an awful feeling I’m supposed to know, and that this is some kind of treat. I don’t think it’s my birthday, but perhaps an anniversary. Patrick’s death? It would be just like Helen to remember and make it a “special occasion.” But I can see from the bare trees out on the street that it’s the wrong time of year. Patrick died in the spring.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“Although it’s just as likely to be a son,” Carla says. I’ve missed some earlier part of her speech, and I don’t know what she’s talking about. “You’re lucky you have a daughter. They say sons steal from their old mothers. It was in a report I saw on the news.” “But I do have a son,” I say. “Millions of pounds, stolen every year.” “I don’t have millions of pounds,” I say. “And all kinds of antiques. Georgian, Victorian.” “I don’t have any antiques, either.” Oh, this is no good. What sort of a conversation”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“grass is slightly frosty and I enjoy hearing it crunch”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“I feel rather drab and shy for a few minutes. But then I remember that I am old and nobody is looking at me.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“My reflection always gives me a shock. I never really believed I would age, and certainly not like this.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“My fault for being a young girl, I thought.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
Emma Healey
Born place: in London, The United Kingdom
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“Where are you going?” Kaylin stopped. “I’m following you.” “Which is usually done from behind.”
― Michelle Sagara, quote from Cast in Secret
“That night, before you sent me away, was the best night of my life. The marks you laced me with lasted a full week. Every time I looked in a mirror, or touched a bruise in the shower, I grew slick for you. You visited my dreams. I woke to aching wetness and an empty heart.”
― Pepper Winters, quote from Tears of Tess
“Rewards do not undermine people’s intrinsic motivation for dull tasks because there is little or no intrinsic motivation to be undermined.”
― Daniel H. Pink, quote from Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
“I know you have it in you, Guy," Anne said suddenly at the end of a silence, "the capacity to be terribly happy.”
― Patricia Highsmith, quote from Strangers on a Train
“Pain comes to all of us some time or another. Its how we learn to cope with it that determine our future.”
― Abbi Glines, quote from Until Friday Night
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