The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, #7)

by Jacqueline Winspear

You cannot deliberately change the course of the river without causing a flood or drought somewhere else.” “But everything changes when you unearth the past,” said Maisie. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it? You bring old events and choices to the surface, and you change the vista—but spring will come, the soil will seed itself, that flood or drought will abate, and life goes on in that new landscape.”

“Life is a riddle, my dear. It is filled with clues along the way, with messages we struggle to understand. You’ve been working on the case of a cartographer; you should know that all maps are drawn in hindsight. And hindsight, if interpreted with care, is what brings us wisdom.