The Murder After the Night Before Quotes

“I often find myself wondering if there’s someone who looks at my bank statements and just shakes their head in utter despair.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“It’s a funny thing, when you tell people you’ve written a book, one of the most common things they ask you is ‘Am I in it?’ which, I think, says quite a bit about the human ego.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“You’re not being hysterical. That’s the patriarchy trying to silence you.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Something gnaws at the back of my consciousness, reminding me that it’s infinitely depressing considering a man not having sex with you when you’re too drunk to consent as decent. The bar really is fucking low.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“You can’t die from a hangover.’ A voice. A disembodied voice. An acousmêtre in (possibly) my bedroom. I have a narrator now? How very Gossip Girl of me.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“My poor head is pounding out a questionable drum and bass track while my throat feels like I’ve deep-throated a cheese grater.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Shit stuff is going to happen to you, no matter what. You can hide away at home all day, not making ripples, not taking chances. But. The bad stuff will keep happening. Not one person on this planet lives a completely charmed life. We lose loved ones, there will be wars, there will be suffering... But the good stuff, the moments that take your breath away, the moments when you can't see anything bad because you're so dazzled by happiness, those moments you've got to work for.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“what goes online stays online,”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Shit happens so balance it out?’ ‘Shit happens so balance it out.’ He smiles.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“The bad stuff will keep coming, Molly, no matter what you do. But the good stuff, the moments that take your breath away, the moments when you can’t see anything bad because you’re so dazzled by happiness, those moments you’ve got to work for.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Let me tell you one thing I’ve learned, mostly the hard way, shit stuff is going to happen to you, no matter what. You can hide away at home all day, not making ripples, not taking chances. But. The bad stuff will keep happening. Not one person on this planet lives a completely charmed life. We lose loved ones, there will be wars, there will be suffering.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Right, so, my full name is Joshua Jackson.’ He waits for this to sink in. ‘Oh. Like on Daw—’ ‘Yes, like on Dawson’s Creek. Stop laughing.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Every single one of you have seen the most humiliating moment of my life. And most of you have found it funny.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Tears of shame feel like crying acid. They hurt the inside of your face and scar the outside of it forever. But these are new tears. It turns out tears of grief are still painful”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Women can’t have it all, Posey, you know that, right? It’s a lie. We can have bits of things, if we’re lucky. But ultimately we’ll all be abused in some form or another.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“I don’t know how you journalists do it, I really don’t. There must be something inside you that isn’t quite right. Because how can you just keep writing, what’s essentially the same story, over and over again and it not break you? Woman is murdered. Woman is missing. Woman is raped. And that’s on top of all the other shit we have to deal with. The unwanted groping. The everyday sexism. The fucking pay gap. The domestic workload. The emotional labour. Everything is on your shoulders when you’re a woman.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“I smile, weakly of course, at him. ‘Yes, thank you. I won’t be back though. But, thank you. She looks very peaceful.’ It’s a total lie, but I’m beginning to realise that a lot of the language around death skims the truth, skates over it like blades across ice.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Molly. If people could choose and control their dreams, why would anyone ever be awake? We’d all be on a Greek island drinking free cocktails and having sex with Aidan Turner.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“I follow her up an ornate staircase, catching a glimpse of a huge kitchen as we walk past it. A slither of green is visible beyond the bifold doors. Bloody hell, these rich people love their bifold doors.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Grief affects every atom of your being, not just your mind.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Yeah, let’s be extremely British and have a cuppa while we talk around our feelings instead of about them.’ He gives me a weak smile.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“I was just about to grab something for lunch, but don’t worry. I’ll get my assistant to get us some sandwiches.’ He doesn’t even ask if I’m hungry or anything and it strikes me how much men assume.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“I know as well as anyone how we can fall away from ourselves as we flail against grief. How sometimes all we can cling to are the formal conventions that are imprinted into us.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Molly Monroe’s name will forever be associated with this one night. Future employers will be able to see the story. Her future children, should she have any, will see it. She’s another reminder that our society is still patriarchal. It’s still built on misogyny. Women’s sexuality is still used to shame us into submission and obedience. And Molly Monroe has been made into the sacrificial lamb to remind us of that.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“A witch hunt on social media, spurred on by a tabloid news site, named her within thirty minutes of the original TikTok going live. Interestingly, there has been no such public outcry to name and shame her male co-star.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“And while we’re all trying to be hashtag kind, at least outwardly, the pack mentality of a public pile-on is a compulsion too tempting for many to ignore.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Once I’m there, I can’t resist that temptation again to take a quick peek at Twitter. To press my fingers into the open wound once more.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“What do I even say? Hi, Dad! Guess you’ve seen a video of me doing the rounds on social media by now. Yeah, I’m annihilated drunk. Yes, that is me giving a bloke a blow job outside a pub.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“Sit down please, Molly,’ Robyn says, indicating the empty chair in front of her desk. Carol’s slightly to the right of it and still won’t look at me directly. Like I’m the Medusa or something.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before

“We usually tag team like that on a night out so neither of us has to travel home alone. One of the many delights of being female in a big city.”
― Katy Brent, The Murder After the Night Before