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1 " Such a night cannot be shaken from a woman’s memory. Such a night changes your life forever. "
― Sara Sheridan , The Secret Mandarin
2 " It occurred to me that as a man I could do anything, everything I wanted. "
3 " What was it that marked me as a woman and was I prepared to let it go? "
4 " At length, when I considered it, I realized that the best of my actions were small things. Picking flowers and cooking food for my mother when she had been unwell, spending an afternoon with the children, sending money to my sister or kissing Henry’s tiny head as he slept in the nursery before I left. I thought of every detail and afterwards I felt better. Hellfire and brimstone have never appealed to me and I admit I become easily confused thinking of right and wrong. But I do understand kindness. "
5 " We might give her presents, tell some tales, but would she ever be able to really understand what the journey had been like for us? "
6 " It seemed to me that these months of watching and listening, second-guessing words and phrases, seeking so much that was new, had somehow changed me. "
7 " If you tempted a poor man with a fortune, who could blame the fellow for taking what he could? "
8 " I had loved poetry and the theatre. Now I loved adventure more. "
9 " I am torn between the freedom of this adventure and the benefits of civilization despite its constraints. "
10 " Those who have not been stung will hardly fear a bee the same as those who have. "
11 " We are home to each other now. "
12 " I thought of myself mixing the fragrance of a certain day – the heavy musk of the hillside after the rain with the lightness of fresh blossoms doused in the downpour. I thought of each little bottle as the essence of a happy day or a sad one. I mixed the scent of a lonely moment – sandalwood and bergamot lingering over a rich, peppery base. "
13 " People who inspire such contradictory emotions must be worthwhile, I reasoned. "
14 " I have always been a night owl rather than a lark. "
15 " Women the world over suffer restrictions. "
16 " I would rather be a spinster than sold off, traded in, whatever they may call it. "
17 " It is strange that what seems at first alien becomes second nature in the blink of an eye. "
18 " The bonds between a family are strange indeed. "
19 " Our children make us so vulnerable. Our parents too, I suppose. "
20 " I am torn between the freedom of this adventure and the benefits of civilization despite its constraints. "