Iris

“In the company of women like this— sharp-edged as raw diamonds but with soft hands and hearts, not strong in spite of anything but powerful because of everything— I feel invincible. Every chink and rut and battering wind has made us tough and brave and impossible to strike down. We are mountains— or perhaps temples, with foundations that could outlast time itself.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

“Because women don't have to be men's equals to be considered contenders; they have to be better. That's the lie of it all. You have to be better to prove yourself worthy of being equal.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

“You deserve to be here. You deserve to exist. You deserve to take up space in this world of men.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

“Everyone has heard stories of women like us—cautionary tales, morality plays, warnings of what will befall you if you are a girl too wild for the world, a girl who asks too many questions or wants too much. If you set off into the world alone. Everyone has heard stories of women like us, and now we will make more of them.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy