Keeper of the Night Quotes

“I'm not running for fiesta queen, I'm not going to be a suruhana, and I'm not making the golai hagun sune!"
Auntie Bernadette seems hurt. "Isabel, you don't have to yell."
"I do. You don't listen, I have to yell so you'll hear me.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“I'll never have one special place at the table. I'll sit in a different place every day. Then if I go away, no one will miss me just by looking at an empty chair.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“...my father believes when girls get old enough to notice boys, it's good for them to be surrounded by nuns. I'm in eighth grade. The nuns can't stop me from looking.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“Why didn't you know about the words on Frank's wall? Maybe if you asked Frank to go fishing instead of Roman, Frank would be here now, not in that hospital. Why don't you care?" I'm yelling and it doesn't matter if anyone can hear me. Everyone in Malesso can think I'm a disrespectful daughter. I want to empty the words that have been building inside me.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“The absentminded doctor!"
Delia and Tonya giggle. But I'm thinking about how Dr. Johnson's head is so busy, he can't see the man's class ring about his daughter's neck.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“I don't want to follow the footsteps of someone I don't remember. That would be like chasing a ghost that doesn't want to be caught.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“I may look like my mother, but I'm not like her. I don't like to dance or sing. I don't like to pray. I'm not like my mother at all. I am here.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“You're too young to have to cross things off a list. You worry too much."
But I kept writing. Someone had to remember to do things.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“My mother's beauty didn't cause life to be easy for her. No one leaves an easy life behind.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“My mother lived in a world of her own—a world filled with sadness that I couldn't see.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“...my father believes when girls get old enough to notice boys, it's good for them to be surrounded by nuns. I'm in either grade. The nuns can't stop me from looking.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night

“My mother died praying on her knees. Her rosary beads were still in her hands when we found her. She left no note, said no good-byes, gave no last hugs or kisses. Only the empty bottle of sleeping pills that had rolled under her bed proved she'd meant to leave.”
― Kimberly Willis Holt, Keeper of the Night