Family Saga Quotes

“Like most things unwanted, the end of the artillery barrage came without consideration or introduction; the seconds after its cessation were like hours. The silence was debilitating for the men, as it signilled the beginning of the real battle—the fight with enemy soldiers.”
― Michael J Murphy, Beneath the Willow

“The image of a teenage boy dressed in a black uniform, his babyish face partly obscured by an official looking cap, paralysed every muscle and nerve in her body. The pink telegram loomed large in her line of sight...”
― Michael J Murphy, Beneath the Willow

“Getting over her had been impossible. A day hadn’t gone by that he hadn’t thought of her, yearned for her. Sometimes he felt as if he couldn’t breathe if he didn’t see her again. He’d had to come back to make things right no matter how it ended.”
― B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride

“As she reached the stairs, she made a quick detour and stepped outside.
A crescent moon hung in the midnight blue sky along with trillions of twinkling stars. Out here there were no streetlights to wash out the view. She loved being able to see the stars.
Tonight, the mountains were etched deep purple against the night sky. The white snowcapped tips gleamed silver. Nearer, silhouetted pine trees swayed in the breeze as if in a slow dance.
“You are such a romantic,” Trask had once told her. “Are you sure you want to open a bar? You should be writing poetry.”
She’d laughed. “How do you know I don’t?”
― B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride

“One would think being free of my father's domineering influence would have made him a better man. Instead, he took on patterns of my father's behavior, as if the fabric of our family was held together by the thread of my father's existence and once he was gone, William felt the need to sew up loose ends.

Sheila Myers - The Night is Done”
― Sheila Myers

“What is the fire of inspiration that resides within, if not something to follow along a path?”
― Claire Fullerton, Mourning Dove

“This wasn’t the Lillie he’d left that night nine years ago. His Lillie was all fire and shooting rockets. His Lillie wasn’t like any woman he’d ever known. His Lillie… wasn’t his anymore.”
― B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride

“Lillie woke to darkness an instant before a large warm hand clamped down over her mouth…”
― B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride

“And like a grieving spouse who sleeps in the shirt of a lost loved one, I thought that by cooking – handling ingredients again, breathing in their aroma as they bubbled – I could somehow be reunited with my mother again.”
― Sasha Martin, Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness

“He was embarrassingly, devastatingly in love with her. She was fresh air and freedom, everything bright, shiny and warm that had ever been in his life. She was home.”
― Lauren Gilley, Keep You

“Lizzie could tell it was a book by the feel and thought that it was probably her father’s new publication. He’d kept the work a secret from everyone in the family but Billy. She expected a western but when the ribbon and paper were undone the simplicity of the title took her breath away and time seemed to stop. It said simply in bold yellow type “Mary” with a painted landscape of the Bradshaw Mountains in the background.”
― A.G. Graham, Yavapai County Line: West of the Divide Book 1

“I’ve thought a lot about whether Mik is important to me. I think that we are a work in progress. I don’t feel that I’m responsible for consoling him through my illness – he’s on his own this time. And I think that I’m beginning to fall in love with him, once more. It’s not that wonderful, romantic, hormone-driven, crazy kind of love that we shared so many, many years ago and lost. It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s endearing. I think that it’s truer. Just to see him, makes my insides smile with happiness. And I’m going to tell him that.”
― Marlene F. Cheng, Our Broken Bond

“Light and Shadow: Every family is organized around some story.”
― Helen S Rosenau

“Anna sat down and studied her brothers. Both were nearly six feet tall. The older, Addison, was muscular with a darker shade of brown hair compared to the younger, blue-eyed Purl, who was leaner and lighter complexioned. Anna noticed that Purl’s wrists showed below his shirt and coat jacket, hand-me-downs from the uncles. All eight children had trouble adjusting after their parents’ death, but Purl’s situation was the most regrettable—three foster homes since he was fifteen. The moves had been hard on him emotionally. Anna suffered too. She’d felt helpless that she was too young to take him
herself, and had watched him slowly lose his youthful vigor.”
― Ann Kathleen Otto, Yours in a Hurry: A novel

“The life cord became thin filament, and the heaven cord a rope, by the times the camps were liberated. But I don't think many focused on heaven; too much of hell had been lived to allow for God's grace and heaven.”
― Janneke Jobsis Brown, Following Shadows

“She'd cared for the memory as she'd cared for her collection of dolls--as if by keeping it untouched on a high shelf it could last forever. Had he held onto it for any time at all?”
― Susan E Welch

“We are a short time here and along time gone. Live!”
― Gene Cartwright

“Do you like Stevie?'
'No, but he's good-looking.'
'And is Philip O'Brien good-looking?'
'No, but he's keen on you.'
Clio had the world sorted out.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“I wait by the bed. I move into her line of vision and it’s as though we’re watching one another, my mother and me; two women – trapped. Quote from The Memory”
― Judith Barrow, The Memory

“Al says when he takes me to America we'll have servants. He says all American wives have servants.'
He says a lot of things from the sound of it, Mary thought. Her sister was heading for a fall with that American, she was sure of it. Quote from the first of the Haworth trilogy”
― Judith Barrow, Pattern of Shadows

“The last of the Haworth trilogy: At the end of a long night shift, a bullying new father visits the maternity ward and brings back Linda's darkest nightmares, her terror of being locked in. Who is this man, and why does he scare her so? There are secrets dating back to the war that still haunt the family, and finding out what lies at their root might be the only way Linda can escape their murderous consequences.”
― Judith Barrow, Living in the Shadows: Howarth Family Saga Series Book 3

“Life is all about who owes who what. It is a world of debts. If Joe does me a favor, I owe Joe. If I overpay the favor to Joe, then Joe owes me a bit more. It goes on this way until the debt owed feels equal to both parties. But only then. Do you see what I am telling you?”
― Leslie Tall Manning, Knock on Wood

“The miracle of birth is like fruit on a tree. We are conceived by a seed, and squeezed through the body of our mothers to bloom and grow." – by Jackie Lynaugh”
― Jackie Lynaugh, Plantation Hill

“Outside, the sweet smell of freshly cut alfalfa hay was a welcome change from the odours of sweat and cheap cologne on the dance floor.”
― Diana Stevan, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl

“It blew with a rustling noise, as if all the demons had sprung from hell and decided to release a raspy long sigh together.”
― Diana Stevan, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl

“She understood that unrequited love could break a heart, but there was nothing she could do about his sorrow.”
― Diana Stevan, Sunflowers Under Fire

“If she was interested, she wouldn't be going after someone who couldn't speak for himself. A man like that would need more care than she was prepared to give. Besides, didn't he ever look in the mirror? If he was so well off, why was he wearing such a lousy suit?”
― Diana Stevan, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl

“The light, bold, fluttering little figure turned and came back safe to me, and I soon laughed at my fears, and at the cry I had uttered; fruitlessly in any case, for there was no one near. But there have been times since, in my manhood, many times there have been, when I have thought, is it possible, among the possibilities of hidden things, that in the sudden rashness of the child and her wild look so far off, there was any merciful attraction of her into danger, any tempting her towards him permitted on the part of her dead father, that her life might have a chance of ending that day. There has been a time since when I have wondered whether, if the life before her could have been revealed to me at a glance, and so revealed as that a child could fully comprehend it, and if her preservation could have depended on a motion of my hand, I ought to have held it up to save her. There has been a time since – I do not say it lasted long, but it has been – when I have asked myself the question, would it have been better for little Emily to have had the waters close above her head that morning in my sight; and when I have answered Yes, it would have been.”
― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

“Love is a song played on repeat...”
― Tamatha Cain

“Perita is the dog,” Gracie said, in a tone which implied Rosalind was a dimwit for having not immediately understood this.

“You packed for a dog. Yes, I see.” The young dog was a lovely chocolate brown with the typical black mastiff mask. “She has quite a big head,” Rosalind observed.

“Of course, she does.” Gracie sounded affronted by her sister’s ignorance. “That’s the breed. Her mother, Medea, was even bigger than Hercules, you know.”

Rosalind was impressed. Hercules was the size of a small pony. At least, that’s how it seemed when he was flying through the halls of Sweetbriar and came barreling unexpectedly around a corner.

“Why Perita? Don’t you mean Perdita?”

“Not Shakespeare, silly. Alexander the Great.” Gracie was looking disgusted once more. “Well, his was Peritas as it was male. I’ve feminized it. Did you know Peritas bit off an elephant’s face when it tried to charge Alexander once?”

“Bit it off?”

“Probably not completely off. At least, I hope not. But I suppose it would have been justified if Peritas was protecting his master from being trampled to death,” Gracie said, looking thoughtful. “I’m sure Perita would do the very same for me. Or you.” She rubbed the pup’s head affectionately.

“Yes. How lovely.” Rosalind decided not to imagine what a faceless elephant would look like.”
― Fenna Edgewood, The Seafaring Lady's Guide to Love