Quotes About Family

PENNY, CARRIE, AND Bess are the daughters of Tipper and Harris Sinclair. Harris came into his money at twenty-one after Harvard

Grandad's voice boomed across the yard. 'This is the United States of America,' he said. 'You don't seem to understand that, Penny, so let me explain. In America, here is how we operate. We work for what we want, and we get ahead. We never take no for an answer, and we deserve the rewards of our perseverance... We Sinclairs are a grand, old family. That is something to be proud of. Our traditions and values form the bedrock on which future generations stand.

Johnny leapt off the boat and threw his own vest on the dock. First thing, he ran up to Mirren and kicked her. Then he kicked me. Kicked the twins. Walked over to our grandparents and stood up straight. "Good to see you, Granny and Granddad. I look forward to a happy summer.

Mummy sighs. "We grew up, Dad," she says. "We grew up.

I'm not saying he wants to be the guy who only likes white people,' Gat went on. 'He knows he's not supposed to be that guy. He's a Democrat, he voted for Obama—but that doesn't mean he's comfortable having people of color in his beautiful family

I hand him the bag of fudge Granddad and I bought in Edgartown, and the way his face lights up at the chocolate tugs at my heart.

Do you still miss Gran?" I ask him as we head toward New Clairmont. "Because I miss her. We never talk about her." "A part of me died," he says. "And it was the best part." "You think so?" I ask "That is all there is to say about it," says Granddad.

It is good to know that once upon a time, there was Gat and me.

I am the eldest Sinclair grandchild. Heiress to the island, the fortune, and the expectations. Well, probably.

WELCOME TO THE beautiful Sinclair family. No one is a criminal. No one is an addict. No one is a failure. The Sinclairs are athletic,

Granddad is more like Mummy than like me. He's erased his old life by spending money on a replacement one.

If I'd ever told my mother about what happened with the boyfriend list (which I never did), she would have said that Kim is a double-crossing backbiter. Then she'd have said I should vent my rage, forget all about Kim, get on with it and go eat some soy-based product.

We should not let the family fall apart. We should not accept an evil we can change. We would stand up against it, would we not? Yes. We should. We would be heroes, even.

Like my parents. That's their life I just described—but then, there they were, talking on the phone about my dad massaging my mom's groin area after yoga; cuddling on the couch; holding hands and wearing stupid Great Dane paraphernalia. That's all we can realistically hope for.

So lie. Tell him the ones from the Boston house. The cream ones with the embroidery." It was easiest to tell her I would. And later, I told her I had. But Bess has asked Mirren to do the same thing, and neither one of us begged Granddad for the fucking tablecloths.

Gat almost always saw, though. When blood dripped bare feet or poured over the book I was reading, he was kind He wrapped my wrists in soft white gauze and asked me ques tions about what had happened. He asked about Dad and about Gran as if talking about something could make it better. As if wounds needed attention.

There's nothing in our whole house that says he ever lived with us, except me. Why are you allowed to erase my father and I'm not allowed to " "Erase yourself?" Mummy says.

Our family has always loved fairy tales. There is something ugly and true in them. They hurt, they are strange, but we cannot stop reading them, over and over.

She takes off rubber gloves and then kisses Mummy and hugs me too long and too hard, like she is trying to hug some deep and secret message.

It seemed simple to them: Leave the old country behind and reinvent your life. And if you couldn't quite live the American dream, then your children would do it for you.

She wanted him to know his children and grandchildren were still around him, strong and merry as ever. It was important, she said; it was kind; it was best. Don't cause distress, she said. Don't remind people of a loss. "Do you understand, Cady? Silence is a protective coating over pain.

I had kissed an unimportant boy or three by now. I had lost my dad. I had come here to this island from a house of tears and falsehood and I saw Gat, and I saw that rose in his hand, and in that one moment, with the sunlight from the window shining in on him, the apples on the kitchen counter, the smell of wood and ocean in the air, I did call it love.

I have been a liar all my life, you see. It's not uncommon in our family." "They're doing just as I asked them to. As we Sinclairs always do. Pretending. Lying. Trying to have a good time.

I am a more powerful person than my mother will ever know. I have trespassed against her and helped her, too.