Quotes from Susan Wiggs

life had grace notes. These were moments so sweet that they could be tucked like the smallest of keepsakes, never to be forgotten. She

you wait for the perfect time to fall in love, said a little inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Lulu, it'll never happen.

Antonio was fascinated by Isabel's razor-sharp knives from Japan. He made 'kia' sounds like a karate expert as he sliced the tomatoes and added them to the pan. there were some unexpected ingredients, things Tess would never dream of putting in tomato sauce- whole star anise, a vanilla bean split down the middle, a sprinkling of sugar, a sprig of thyme and bay leaves from the herb garden.

Turns out a woman choosing adoption, even a woman behind bars, gets a lot more support than a woman who needs an abortion or who plans on keeping her baby.

What kind of books do you like?" "The kind of books that make me forget my own life for a while.

If you wait for the perfect time to fall in love, said a little inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Lulu, it'll never happen.

A lot of things would be lost or undone if people sat around, waiting for a miracle.

The emotional toll itself was exhausting. Her dreams were haunted by visions of the rape and its aftermath, the violation of everything that made her human.

The empty prairie, crisscrossed by a grid of startlingly straight roads, rolled out like a vast wasteland in front of the hood ornament of the GTO. It was remarkable, Sarah thought, how quickly the suburban sprawl of Chicago gave way to the broad gray-and-white checkerboard of the heartland at its most bleak.

At the state park, they hiked up to a meadow covered with soft grass and golden poppies. Jerome spread out a blanket, and they lazed in the sunshine and had their lunch. The sliders and sheet cake were a hit, as she had known they would be. The sandwiches had been a food truck staple---thin slices of house-cured pastrami, garlic dill kraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing, the rolls slathered with herb butter and crunchy seeds and salt.

Not a rule, but a reminder. We must live this day. We'll never get to live it again.

With your family - with your whole life, really - you don't get to have a control group. You don't have any way of knowing how things would have turned out if you'd done something differently, made another choice, followed a different path.

He was a hopeless romantic.

Good God, what must I do to win you?

Forgiveness was such a simple thing, she thought, once you surrendered to it.

force me to have a baby against my will. That's . . . It's barbaric. It's like . . . Handmaid shit.

In this life, I had all I ever wanted. Losing Erik was a sadness that knit itself into my soul, but that sadness was balanced out by all that came after. The years with you, my little girl, and with your grandfather and all the people of Bella Vista. It has been a life of abundance, and I will always be grateful for that.

You don't believe a woman should be allowed to make private decisions about her own health.

You know what else is my constitutional right? To get an abortion. You don't get to choose what rights belong to me.

He didn't believe in women's rights, but in controlling women.

remember the love.

Based on the reading she'd done about rape trauma, Margie knew she wasn't crazy, but suffering from PTSD.

I've never understood tourism. Where is the value in standing by and watching others live their lives?

The expected mental health consequences of forcing a woman to carry her rapist's baby to term, and having to raise it despite an uncertain future, were well documented. Could be, she'd end up crazy after all.