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1 " She's right. They all are. I can feel it in my bones, that fear, like a sour taste on my tongue. I want nothing more than to stay here, to give in to their reason. I've seen the movies, too—I know what happens to the person who leaves safety to head out into the dark forest, the haunted psychiatric ward, the abandoned school. But what those movies don't show is the guilt surging like a current through my skin; how it feels to know someone you care about is already there, alone and vulnerable and terrified. What the moviegoers don't see is that the shame of staying can weigh heavier than the fear of going. "
― Camilla Sten , The Lost Village
2 " It would have been nice to explore the alleyways by myself in this silence, to capture the village as I see it now, this first morning. Dormant and untouched. It's like a living photograph, a relic of a bygone age. "
3 " We perceive women suffering from mental illness with a sort of paradoxical double-sidedness; both victims and monsters, simultaneously infantilized and feared. A certain level of dysfunction is accepted—after all, women who are suffering mild depression and starving themselves aren’t going to leave their husbands or start revolutions, which is very practical indeed. "
4 " Recovered, in recovery, or struggling, we are still people. Sometimes that truth can feel like a fever dream. "
5 " There are three female characters in the book suffering from mental illness, and they are all perceived and treated differently. One of them has recovered, one is in recovery, and was never given the chance. They are neither victims or villians. They are just people, with different needs and levels of functioning. "
6 " We perceive women suffering from mental illness with a sort of paradoxical double-sidedness; both victims and monsters, simultaneously infantilized and feared. "
7 " We view a depressed upper-class woman from a stable family background dealing with depression as “having the blues,” while the homeless woman on the street corner battling auditory hallucinations is a thing to be feared, a threatening monster. Not a person in need of help. Not someone with thoughts, dreams, fears, and needs of their own. Not a fully formed human being with agency and identity, suffering from an illness and doing their best to function as well as they can. "
8 " That’s the lovely thing about books, isn’t it? You can take whatever you want from it. "
9 " This isn't a movie. In a movie we would have hugged and been best friends again, now and forever. That's never going to happen. I think I'll be living with this dull pain for the rest of my life. I'll never get back what we used to have. But maybe that doesn't have to be such a bad thing.Maybe we can still live with each other, in some way, shape, or form. "I'm glad you didn't drown with me," I say.She nods slowly."I'm glad you didn't drown," she replies. "
10 " It’s easier to sympathize with dead people, tragic victims long gone. They aren’t nearly as demanding. As compassion goes, it’s cheap. "
11 " Throughout history, women suffering from mental illness have been hidden away, burned at the stake, lobotomized, and sterilized. "
12 " They are neither victims nor villains. They are just people, with differing needs and levels of functioning. "
