The Unquiet Bones Quotes

“If she’s learned anything, it’s that honesty—while difficult—has merit.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Once a secret is told it’s no longer a secret because someone else knows. And when that happens you no longer control the truth. You can no longer guard it for yourself.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“We live in a society that places high value on resolving problems, on finding solutions, on ‘getting over’ things quickly. But when society is faced with people who are missing, there’s a disconnect, a discomfort. They don’t know how to cope with people who are missing loved ones, or with situations that actually have no answers or resolutions. We should not be forced to chase closure,” she warns.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Emotion is not weakness, Jane. Empathy is not soft. It’s what makes us most human. Most strong.” She pauses. “It’s why I loved your father. And you are his daughter. Just as strong. Just as kind. And being a woman doesn’t mean you should fight harder to appear cold and professional. We need to change perceptions about what is powerful and strong.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“The therapist says, “We need to bear in mind that in the context of ambiguous loss, ‘closure’ is a myth. It’s easy to succumb to intense societal pressure to ‘find closure,’ and this message is drummed home by the media, reinforced in movies and in novels. It’s echoed in comments from friends and family. We live in a society that places high value on resolving problems, on finding solutions, on ‘getting over’ things quickly. But when society is faced with people who are missing, there’s a disconnect, a discomfort. They don’t know how to cope with people who are missing loved ones, or with situations that actually have no answers or resolutions. We should not be forced to chase closure,” she warns. “What we need to find are ways to coexist with our complex feelings, and to always remember that our reactions are completely normal.” She glances at Jane. “They’re not a sign of personal weakness.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“the context of ambiguous loss, “closure” is a myth . . . We should not be forced to chase closure. What we need to find are ways to coexist with our complex feelings, and to always remember that our reactions are completely normal. They’re not a sign of personal weakness.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Maternal response to a child’s sexual abuse is critical. A mother’s support for a victim can help stop the abuse and mitigate the immediate psychological effects, plus decrease negative long-term outcomes.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“What truly fascinates me with this one is how many years that kind of abuse can go on in a family that has such a seemingly normal exterior. And why the child victim never speaks. Or why the spouse of the abuser and other adults in the family stand for it.” He sips his wine. “Maternal response to a child’s sexual abuse is critical. A mother’s support for a victim can help stop the abuse and mitigate the immediate psychological effects, plus decrease negative long-term outcomes.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Wees die verandering wat jy wil sien in die wêreld,” Ahmed murmurs in Afrikaans. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Tears pool in his eyes.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Justice has come. Finally. Annalise and her bones have spoken.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“When I come back tomorrow, Jill, I want you gone. I want you out of this house.” “Please, Isaias, please talk to me. Try to understand—”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Same bright-green eyes that seemed to hold a naughty secret.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“She is fixated on the image of the police badge.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“you want resolution, if you want answers, if you seek closure, bring closure to others. Be the change.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“The things we do, for our children—to keep them safe, to atone for our own childhood sins, when inside our aging bodies we’re all really just still frightened and bullied children ourselves . . .”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“The past is the past. Except when it’s not. A little voice whispers this thought up from his subconscious. It settles into his bones as a feeling. Cold. Something unstoppable has been set in motion.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Grieving feels like a betrayal, like you’ve given up. Meanwhile the whole world just starts to move on without you.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“She’s terrified of being home alone with her thoughts. She needs to work.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“It’s the beginning of the end. She almost begins to cry in anticipation of the pending emotional release.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“It’s taken a lifetime to reach this place of contentment, of self-acceptance.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“If Jane can’t find closure for herself, she can at least try to close this—she’ll find out who that deceased young woman is, give her back her name, and bring her home to her family.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Like what?” Stephanie’s tone is mocking and angry now. “Did someone die?” Jane pushes her arms into her coat. “Yeah, actually. Someone did.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“The need to belong is a basic survival instinct more powerful than logic. Biologically it can override the most rational of thinking.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“And being a woman doesn’t mean you should fight harder to appear cold and professional. We need to change perceptions about what is powerful and strong.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“If you want resolution, if you want answers, if you seek closure, bring closure to others. Be the change.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“You might have heard of the famous Soap Lady? She was exhumed in 1875 from a cemetery in Philadelphia and is now at the Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“need to belong is a basic survival instinct more powerful than logic. Biologically it can override the most rational of thinking. To be cut out of the herd represents danger on some unconscious biological level”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“being a woman doesn’t mean you should fight harder to appear cold and professional. We need to change perceptions about what is powerful and strong.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Emotion is not weakness, Jane. Empathy is not soft. It’s what makes us most human. Most strong.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones

“Ella smiles. “Indeed. Within about three hours of rising, our cartilage settles and compresses and decreases our joint spaces. We end up shorter at the end of the day than when we started.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Unquiet Bones