“The sky was always full of birdsong and evening smells, piano music from a window, the stone buildings glowing against the blue,… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“There was an extravagant winter storm outside. The tinfoil sky flashed beyond the window, rattling in the frame, and once or twice… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I hope when this is done I'll be able to get back into my happy gardening vibe that was so healthy for… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“But I can't help thinking of the shock I felt when I finally realised it was winter, on exiting Mizuko's apartment. The… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I know I only want him,' she said between sobs, the syllables all wrong, 'because he doesn't want me . How is… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“My reflections amount to a love story that is mostly made up, from memories that are mostly false, between people who were… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“When I read it now it's like I have broken into a reality that is not mine, and when I step out… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“She hasn't forgotten that I once called that thing she does, with the pins, Pinteresque.” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“Yes,' she said, her nod and smile so American and so misleading. 'You are not supposed to be here—you're supposed to be… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I asked to use the bathroom and sat, recovering, on the edge of a marble bath on a dais—the kind Greek husbands… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“The sharp, superficial pain at being spoken to unkindly had obscured the deeper pain, which had not yet turned into something hard… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“If everything stays the same, it seems possible for someone to come back.” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“We rarely get the chance to see things anew. I remember a Latin translation that caused me to fail an exam at… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I couldn't decide what kind of person she was, whether she was one of those insects that look exactly like wasps but… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I saw her note the way I hovered over the various ethnicities on the form. First the 'white' box, then to the… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I also found it hard to accept the Mizuko I'd known in multiple miniatures was one physical person. I suppose it would… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“Mizuko loved reading the dictionary. She liked it when there were multiple meanings for words and when opposite meanings could be contained.” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“Yeah!' I said again, widening my eyes and nodding slowly but emphatically to show that she had seen into my own symmetrical… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“It never ceased to amaze me how she just had the facts always, in her head. It occured to me that if,… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“Instantly I remembered everything I hated about him. But it was, in a way, comforting to know that he had not changed… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“Working out that I am not Mizuko has been an important step towards feeling better. If I have hit on a moral,… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“It was to do with the glazed look that always comes over me when faced with somebody who has offended or hurt me and… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I was on the sidewalk, buffering, wondering if it was okay to follow people in real life.” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“That night I dreamt about the roses laid at the wrong feet—the feet of the nurse. Each bit of the dream was like a… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I saw a doctor. I went in case there were any remnants of the summer inside me—sticky, slender fish bones that needed to be… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I felt the nauseous shiver in my stomach—everything from rage to empathy to morning sickness—that I had grown used to and now thought of… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“A neon-pink 3 flickered and instantly disappeared again into the dark. The sight of it on my own device now made me sick. I… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“I felt my own self-sufficiency, my own Walden Pond, seeping out of me as if I'd sprung a leak. Self soaked into everything around… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“ Roses are like kamikaze love pilots. Roses are like suicide love bombers. ” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“Waking in the morning, I had to remember grief all over again. It was sunny, a white winter sun, and that made me sad.” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“But you'd hope anyone would feel sympathy if they actually saw someone face to face, pleading for a chance.” — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
“From watching Silvia, I'd learned that one of the worst things about being ill is that most people find your suffering opaque. With this… — Olivia Sudjic Copy Share Image
