The Ghostwriter Quotes

“That you can make up whatever you want to be the truth and you can live your life as if you’ve sealed it off forever. But, like a heartbeat behind a wall, the truth is always there, holding you hostage.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Once you lie about your past, you wall yourself off from the present.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“People’s recollections are tinted with their own biases. Their beliefs, layered over the top, sometimes rendering a completely different meaning.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Information is power, yes. But it’s also a burden because once you know something, you can’t pretend you don’t.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Cool air floats in through an open window, low music playing from hidden speakers, a full stomach and the buzz of alcohol making me feel relaxed.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“This is the consequence of speaking out as a woman. We are labeled hysterical, emotional, unreliable, and finally, incompetent.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Every chapter has to have a point. Even if the reader can’t yet see it. Every story told must serve two purposes—to allow your reader to know your characters better, and to push the narrative toward the conclusion.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“You can’t erase the past by not thinking about it.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“I wonder if I will ever be settled. If I will ever be the kind of person who will feel secure with what I have, instead of always feeling like I’m about thirty seconds away from losing everything.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“The truth lives in people’s actions, their unguarded moments, not in the lies they tell.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“You can’t erase the past by not thinking about it.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Solitude is my lot in life. Those seeds were planted by my parents long ago, and it’s futile to think I would grow into something different.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“My mother laughed. “That’s why I have three children,” she said, pulling a roast out of the refrigerator and setting it on the counter. “One of you will take care of me.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“There are ten film reels in all. Three from March, two from April, four from May, and one from June. Such a short period of time. And such a consequential one.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“I feel like I’m riding shotgun with a man who has lost control of the car and there isn’t anything I can do but wait for us to crash.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“So I guess you finally came out.” I look down at my hands. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” He waves away my apology. “It’s fine. Turns out, my mother had long suspected and had done a lot of the heavy lifting for me with my dad. They both adore Matt.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Matt.” He looks at me sideways. “What about you? Anyone special?” I watch a couple biking past us, letting my eyes trail after the pair, noticing the way they pedal in slow circles, perfectly in sync. I imagine they are me and Tom, in a parallel”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“This is the consequence of speaking out as a woman. We are labeled hysterical, emotional, unreliable, and finally, incompetent. I consider refusing, telling him I won’t work that”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“This isn’t easy for me. I’ve spent fifty years staying silent—at my own peril. It’s not a matter of what needs to be said, but how the story should be told.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Snippets of memories, fragments of conversations. When you’re living it, you can’t see how it all fits together, or how it’s all going to end. But here, in this space, all your days line up like pearls on a string, each one leading to the next. You get to touch them, live them one last time and finally understand.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“When I have to push across the abyss—go from the easy stories to the harder ones. The ones that live inside all of us but don’t ever come out.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“I was moved to tears at one point, thinking how lucky I was to be living in this moment.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Because my own memories are tied up in this tapestry that’s slowly appearing before me. Threads connecting my story to this one. It’s”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“But this book—about my family, my past—belongs to me as well. Maybe it’s my turn to tell a story.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“Shadows of my younger self dance in the corners, teasing me out, forcing me to remember things I’d long forgotten.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“No one can see who I am or remember who my father is. I’m an invisible hand on the page instead of the name on the cover.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“I know you have a job to do, but don’t lose sight of the fact that your dad is dying,” he continues. “He asked for your help, and you came. No matter what happens with the book or what happened in 1975, you’ll always have that—the knowledge that you showed up when he needed you.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“But it was incredible. To be in a crowd of women, all of us chanting—no, demanding—equal pay and equal rights was intoxicating. The speakers made me feel as if anything were possible, as if we were standing at the edge of a new era. One that would raise women and girls to equal standing. I was moved to tears at one point, thinking how lucky I was to be living in this moment.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“problem for her to look up the property”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter

“from one another, but also because of each other.”
― Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter