The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4

by Beth Brower

“Strange is that unexpected moment that stays with you, that makes you think about it again. Strange is memorable, and compelling.”

“What a perpetual disappointment is actual society…”

My feelings for October are fierce: a sharp love of cool air, a season transforming the landscape towards, and through, death.

“Of course I’m coming with you. Don’t be daft. My friends do not go to war alone.”

Bless a man who knows how to keep his own counsel when you can’t bear to speak.

I like good people. They remind me of what I used to be myself.”

They might not be of the Old Testament variety—Pierce, Islington, and Hawkes—but whatever strange confluence of events led to them holding me up was the gentlest hand of fate I’ve ever encountered. It might even be Divine.