“Who was this woman before me, her face imprinted with the expectations of others? I was Mom. I was Wife. I was… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“To live for oneself is a terrifying prospect; there is comfort in martyrdom... p 364” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Mother shook her head impatiently. 'You need to...stop looking for heroes, Anne.' Her speech was slow, slurred, but understandable. 'Only the weak… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Tonight, all I want to do is dream of that movie. Is that bad? That I’d rather dream of a movie than… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“why Phoebe always dipped her food into tea before she ate it (she said she had soft teeth and didn’t want to… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“And before that, I had been Charles’s wife, the bereaved mother of the slain child. That was all. But before that, I… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Marriage breeds its own special brand of loneliness, and it’s far more cruel. You miss more, because you’ve known more.” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“To my children, I was just Mom. That was all. And before that, I had been Charles’s wife, the bereaved mother of… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Were we women always destined to appear as we were not, as long as we were standing next to our husbands?” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“To my children, I was just Mom. That was all. And before that, I had been Charles’s wife, the bereaved mother of… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Elisabeth was the same as ever, and I was the same as ever around her; no longer a confident college senior, I was diminished… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Who was this woman before me, her face imprinted with the expectations of others? I was Mom. I was Wife. I was Tragedy. I… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
Why were there so many barriers between us, always? Barriers of clothing, of etiquette, of time and age and reason. — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“my breath sour against my fist, which I still held to my mouth as if this was a sorrow that could be stifled.” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“And this was the greatest gift that aviation could ever give me; not the sense of freedom but the sense of permanence, coupling, of… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“ashamed of it even as I craved it. “Oh, she does! There’s a party tomorrow,” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“Now and adult, allowed a glimpse of these first cracks in my family's perfect surface, I couldn't help but wonder what else I didn't… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“To live for oneself is a terrifying prospect; there is comfort in martyrdom... p 364” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“For I can think of no fate drearier than sitting at home...for the rest of my life, watching all of you go off one… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“And this—instead of happiness—would be only what the two of us deserved, after all.” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“...all his smiles were just a little sad around the edges, as if he knew happiness never could last very long” — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
“And I did not speak German well; I found the language harsh and guttural, my ear simply couldn’t find it pleasing, and so my… — Melanie Benjamin Copy Share Image
