--An American Plague by Jim Murphy
“No one noticed that the church bells were tolling more often than usual to announce one death, and then another. They rang for Dr. Hugh Hodge’s little daughter, for Peter Aston, for John Weyman, for Mary Shewell, and for a boy named McNair. No one knew that a killer was already moving through their streets with them, an invisible stalker that would go house to house until it had touched everyone, rich or poor, in some terrible way.”
--An American Plague by Jim Murphy
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“Eight deaths in the space of a week in two houses on the same street…but the city did not take notice. Summer fevers were common visitors to all American cities in the eighteenth century, and therefore not headline news.”
--An American Plague by Jim Murphy “I imagine somewhere, in that sky, Halmoni is in heaven, bowing and greeting Harabugi and Jesus. There, her back will never be tired, and she’ll fly with the angels and not say once, Slow down. This was always her dream. To be up there. In heaven. I am still here, reaching.”
--A Step from Heaven by An Na “I have been considering my fate, and the way it appears to me is this: if I agree to marry the Prince, who is young and handsome and somewhat less intelligent than a clod of dirt, he may perchance let me out of this tower before the wedding takes place. ‘Twould not occur to him that I might run away when once I had given my word. Which I would do, I assure you, in the winking of an eye. On the other hand, if I do agree to marry the Prince, the King will simply have the Prince quietly assassinated, and I will end up marrying the King anyway. He would never risk losing anything he wanted through foolish trust in a woman’s word. No indeed; I shall be treated like the wife of Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater, who kept his poor lady in a pumpkin shell, and most uncomfortable that must have been. I daresay I’ll be walled up in some tower or another until the day I die, which could turn out to be a great deal sooner than I might otherwise have expected. If I agree to marry the King from the first, why then, the Prince is less likely to find a knife between his ribs, which I recognize is a much happier outcome for the Prince. Yet look at what I am left with: the old sinner with the concealed weapons and a smile that makes you wonder how, precisely, his first two wives died.”
--Goose Girl by Patrice Kindl “Hung myself. Sister found me. Alive.”
—Anna-Lise M. --I Can't Keep My Own Secrets by the editors of Smith Magazine “You’re gone, and I’m still praying.”
—Jose D. --I Can't Keep My Own Secrets by the editors of Smith Magazine “Laughed at abuser’s funeral. Feel guilty.” –Ashley P.
--I Can't Keep My Own Secrets by the editors of Smith Magazine “Even though she’s still barely willing to speak to me, it feels better than being all by myself. Sometimes I pretend she is Will, and that I know exactly where he is and what’s happening to him, right there above me. Sometimes I try not to think about it, and I don’t pretend anything. Mostly, though, I pretend that everything I’ve told everyone is true: my big brother is dead. In that scenario, at least, we all get some rest.”
--Breathless by Jessica Warman “The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins.”
--The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins “You can’t go on like you’re going to start really living one day, like all this is some preamble to some great life that’s magically going to appear. I’m a firm believer that you have to create your own miracles, don’t hold out that there’s something better waiting on the other side. It doesn’t work that way. When you’re gone, you’re gone. There’s no pearly white gates with an open bar and all the Midori you can drink. You can only get one go-round and you gotta make it count. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true. Don’t wait.”
--Hero by Perry Moore |