“Real pain and imagined pain feel the same. They trigger the same part of the brain, the social worker told me.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“made her realise, again, how lucky she’d been to grow up in a secure, loving home.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“His temples throbbed but the migraine had retreated, leaving a soft wash of endorphins in its wake. He lay blinking at the pillow, light-headed… — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“That no matter how loud you shout, sometimes you’re left alone. Sometimes, no one comes.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“An idea was knocking about in the back of her head, like a moth at a dimly lit window.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“It became its own discipline, the fear of failing to do as they said; a voice in her head berating her before anyone else… — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“The house was bay-windowed, clinging to its original features the way a pensioner clung to her handbag on pension day. The neighbours had put… — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“Wiring in nooses from the ceiling, waiting to be connected, plugged into the rest of the city.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“Many will have suffered depression as teenagers or young women, so they’ll be familiar with that stigma, the way treatment involves judgement. It shouldn’t,… — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“Her heart staggered and stuttered in her chest, like a rat caught in the cage of her ribs.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“We’re solitary by nature. Aren’t we? Even families … Fundamentally, I mean.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“He was nineteen, serving time for a double murder committed five years ago, when he was fourteen.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“You always always put family first, no matter how rotten. A bad family’s better than an empty sty. You don’t cut off a stinking… — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
“Not all loss was about grief. Sometimes it was the loss of fear, or consequence. Loss could be liberating.” — Sarah Hilary Copy Share Image
