Valerie Judge

“They were a ragtag bunch, their stomachs swelling against their ugly uniforms, their hair tied up in topknots, their faces pink from heat and exertion. They’d been assaulted, abandoned, discarded, left in the lurch. They’d been branded, insulted and punished. They were sluts, tramps, whores, fallen women. Their babies would be taken from them without consideration or permission. And still they sang.”
― Rachael English, The Paper Bracelet

“Men can’t help themselves, so the burden falls on women to keep society safe and close to God.”
― Rachael English, The Paper Bracelet

“Us nursing assistants, we’re the guardians of the temples of past loves. But that doesn’t show on our pay slips.”
― Valérie Perrin, Forgotten on Sunday

“Thinking of such things like they’d happened years ago already and not just a few weeks back. For once life begins to accelerate it goes faster and faster.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, We Were the Mulvaneys