T. Kingfisher

I felt like the only other living person on earth was my dad, up north, and the world was empty except for the two of us who had to deal with what my grandmother had left behind.

I hoped like hell he was friendly, because he could probably break me in half with one hand. You think things like this when you’re a woman and there’s nobody around to hear you scream.

It was just that if I laughed, it wasn’t serious.

Bongo’s nose is far more intelligent than the rest of him, and I believe it uses his brain primarily as a counterweight)

struck Marra, watching, as an extravagance of grief. Someone wanted the world to know how sad he could afford to be.

Shovels were good for burying dead bodies, and also for making bodies dead in the first place.

searching look before dropping her hand. The queen tipped water into her daughter’s mouth and made soothing noises, and the midwives circled like jackals, waiting for the babe to come

They were not and the history of the world
was written in women’s wombs and women’s blood and she would never be allowed to change it.

We all make our own way in the world, or don’t.

you look like you’ve been dragged arse-first through hell.”