No one ever sits you down at age eight and says, 'Aminatta, this is what's happened so far.' You have to work it out for yourself, and by the time you do, it's ancient history to many of the players.… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
“A life, a history, whole patterns of existence altered, simply by doing nothing. The silent lie. The act of omission.” — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
What ultimately happened is that my country had a war. I think it would be extraordinary, as a writer, not to want to write… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
“We became friends, I suppose, because we lived close to each other and it suited us and because when you are young friendships go… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
“Adrian's tone suggested that the desire for something was all it took. They all live with endless possibilities, leave their homes for the sake… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
No one ever sits you down at age eight and says, 'Aminatta, this is what's happened so far.' You have to work it out… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
All liars ... lie to protect themselves, to shield their egos from the raw pain of truth. — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
“There's something uncomfortable about looking at pictures of your parents at a time when they made each other happy.” — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
I temporarily became a surgeon for 'Memory of Love'. I spent two weeks in an operating theatre, watching amputations, and I loved it. — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
“How easily they spoke of love. And yet, when she'd needed the certainty of his feeling for her, he'd let her slip away, never… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
War had the effect of encouraging people to try to stay alive. Poverty, too. Survival was simply too hard-won to be given up lightly. — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
“He knows nothing about how this will all end, except that it will surely end. He tries to imagine himself into a future, somewhere… — Aminatta Forna Copy Share Image
