Quotes from Ruth Downie

Women are not always what we seem to be. What our reputations would tell you. Nor do we only exist in reference to our fathers, husbands, and sons.

Why did so many die in the night? As though they wished to kiss us and deliver us with sweet dreams before taking their leave of the world.

a little knowledge would unlock the gates to vast and unsuspected gates of ignorance.

But she's only a woman!" The watch captain shook his head again. "So was Helen of Troy, sir. Look what she started.

That was one of the bad things about being able to read: people could nag you from a great distance.

British rain was rarely that simple. For days on end, instead of falling, it simply hung around in the air like a wife waiting for you to notice she was sulking.

Socrates was a wise man. Surveying the goods on a market stall, the great one was said to have remarked, "What a lot of things a man doesn't need!

It was a mystery why the army bothered with a signal communication system when its men were so good at gossip.

Britannia's big enough to count, but remote enough not to matter.

Getting angry with her cousin, she reminded herself, was like getting angry with a sheep for being stupid. It ruined your day and the sheep was too dim to care.

Such was the cost of dealing with the Romans: even when one fought against them, the stain of their violence licked and crackled at the soul like a fire about to engulf an entire forest.

Even now he could not say in his heart of hearts for which side he would draw his blade when he was finally called upon. What was a child of two worlds to do?

Talking with this girl is like trying to catch fleas, you never know which way she was going to jump.

Before long he felt the peaceful floating sensation of a man vaguely and happily aware that he is falling asleep.

Do you know what emperors do, Tilla?' That was easy. 'Send soldiers to steal the land and make us pay taxes.

Now I have seen what peace is like, I understand why you come to Britannia.

But, when she was alone, someone rapped on the door and she found herself on her feet, knife in hand, before she had time to reason with her fear.

They say opposites attract, but like meets like, too.

From somewhere in the garden came a burble of childish laughter. He [Ruso] reached forward, put his arms around her [Tilla's] waist and rested his head against the belly that was not holding his baby, and perhaps never would. "Everyone else," he said. "Why not us?

But how can an ordinary girl not know this? Had Varana's mother not bothered to teach her anything at all or just shouted complaints from a distance while her children fought and argued amongst themselves like wolf cubs?