Summer (Seasonal Quartet, #4)

by Ali Smith

As a writer from the last century so devoutly said, Forgiveness is the only way to reverse the irreversible flow of history. Her mother had come into her bedroom without knocking, again, and was standing reading the screen over Sacha’s shoulder. Oh, that’s good, that quote, her mother said, I like that. I like it too, Sacha said. Is devoutly the right word? her mother said. It sounds more philosophical than devotional. Is it a devotional writer? Who wrote it? Yes, it’s a devotional writer, Sacha said though she’d no idea, didn’t know who wrote it and had written the word devoutly because devoutly sounded good in the sentence. But now with her mother breathing down her neck and holding forth about who, she brought up Startpage and typed in the words irreversible, flow, history. The quote came up. Someone european-sounding, she said. Ah. It’s Arendt, Hannah Arendt, her mother said. I’d like to read Arendt on forgiveness, I’d like that a lot right now. Ironic, Sacha thought, given that neither her father nor her mother looked likely to forgive each other anything any time soon. Though I don’t know that I’d call her a devotional, her mother said. What’s the source? Brainyquote, Sacha said. That’s not a source, her mother said. Does it give the original source? Look. It doesn’t. That’s terrible. The source is Brainyquote, Sacha said. That’s where I found the quote. You can’t just put down Brainyquote as your source, her mother said. Yes I can, Sacha said. You need better source...