Great Circle

by Maggie Shipstead

Closure doesn’t really exist, though. That’s why we’re always looking for it.

Do you know how few people can actually be made genuinely happy by money?

I’m told girls dream of being wives, but wifedom seems an awful lot like defeat dressed up as victory. We’re celebrated for marrying, but after that we must cede all territory and answer to a new authority like a vanquished nation.

Abandonment stings, even when it means freedom.

She didn’t want her old life, but she couldn’t imagine a new one. The money was to buy time in between.