“He kisses her, and she knows, somehow, that he is asking for help, for an end to the sadness they are causing one another. Asking because, after all these years together, it is the only thing that might save them.” — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“She wanted to tell them that whatever happened, whatever they chose, one day they would have to come awake, everyone would have to stand… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“What mattered was the here and now and not the life before, what mattered were the changeable things of today and tomorrow and not… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“Bertolt Brecht: I would also like to be wise. In the old books it says what wisdom is: To shun the strife of the… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“The things you experience," she continued, "are written on your cells as memories and patterns, which are reprinted again on the next generation. And… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“IN THOSE DAYS, your village might change hands every few weeks, one day to the Communists, the next to the Nationalists, the next to… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“He kisses her, and she knows, somehow, that he is asking for help, for an end to the sadness they are causing one another.… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“If they want to come for you, they will come, and it doesn't matter what you read or what you failed to read. The… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“If some people say what is in their hearts and other people say what glides easily off the tongue, how can we talk to… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“When she returned, she was full of life, impassioned. She seemed to want change, within herself, between them, and she believed all things were… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
“She saw a soldier strike a boy ahead of her with his baton. Behind him, a girl turned and spat in the soldier’s face.… — Madeleine Thien Copy Share Image
