Quotes from Deanna Raybourn

She deserves to be left in peace, not displayed like a fairground attraction for people with half a shilling to gawp at.

He was a Frenchman through and through, and I had always been susceptible to Gallic flourishes.

because, in my experience, it is far better to tell a man what he wants to hear and then do as you please than attempt to reason with him.

I sat for a long time, uncomfortable both with the person I had been and the person I was finally becoming. Caught between the two of them, I felt rather lonely, as one often does with a new acquaintance.

the rustle of yellow skirts and the scent of lemon verbena.

But the timing of his demise only added to the sensationalist stories, and rumors began to circulate of a curse placed upon the expedition by the restless spirit of the disturbed princess.

Exactly. Now, why would young Figgy follow her stepmother without making her presence known?

The days are very alike here, the hours of darkness long and bleak, and I am a stranger to myself.

A forced interlude with a Corsican bandit of great charm had ended with him vowing to give up his errant life of villainy and take holy orders. He still sent me regular missives from the monastery where he devoted himself to the making of pungent cheeses.)

I found it winsome that such a hardened man of the world could have gained so much experience as scientist, explorer, natural historian, naval surgeon, and taxidermist and still manage a maidenly blush when confronted with a fertility icon.

Egypt," Stoker pointed out acidly, "is not filthy. It was once the cradle of civilization. I would suggest you read a book, but I am not entirely certain of your ability to do so.

So many hours lost wishing for things I could never have. Take me for a warning, Julia. Do not long for what you cannot have. Accept what is and thank God for it, before he sees fit to take it from you.

It can be a thankless and tiresome task, always being the person who holds the world together," I said gently.

They sold the furniture. There is nothing to sit upon and no table to set, so it is the kitchen for you, my girl. Pretend you are at Wuthering Heights. Everyone there ate in the kitchen.

A brief and hellish marriage followed by a period of Bacchanalian overindulgence had soured him on romance, although I regularly recommended to him a restorative bout of coitus, preferably with a strapping dairymaid—a course he had yet to embrace.

Through his perambulations, he had lost the thread of connection with his family, and by the time I had met him, some three years previous to these events, there was almost no communication between Stoker and his three brothers, their father having died the year before I came into his life.

Heavens, no! Political meetings. I am a suffragist," she told us proudly. "And if I were permitted to vote, I should vote Liberal. That is what galls him the most. He's the most appalling Tory.

Not all of it. We are, as a gender, undereducated and infantilized to the point of idiocy. But those of us who have been given the benefit of learning and useful occupation, well, we are proof that the traditional notions of feminine delicacy and helplessness are the purest poppycock.

Now and then, so fleeting I could almost believe it my own fancy, each of them had looked at Stoker with something akin to jealousy. I was not surprised. It was the same expression frequently aimed in my direction, usually by women with too many children and too much time spent embroidering tea cloths. To make one's own money, to direct one's own destiny, these were heady gifts indeed.

loved only the illusion, the mirror face you chose to show me. I wonder which of us I pity more.

A lady should never marry a man without knowing he is a spy.

Most people are incapable of understanding a woman like you," he said simply. "You defy comprehension." "That might be the nicest thing you have ever said to me.

A lady had no business going around not murdering people when she had excellent motive, plausible means, and the correct temperament. Elspeth was decisive, physically strong, and by her own admission capable of coaxing along a seedling of a grudge until it flowered. "How dare she be innocent." I muttered. "It is most inconsiderate.

We have a saying in the Alpenwald, Fraulein. Plans are jokes written by men for God's amusement.