The Blank Wall Quotes

“Her husband and her children did not consider her beyond criticism. She belonged to them; whatever she did affected them; their pride, their good name in the world lay in her hands. They would give her love, protection, even a sort of homage, but in return for that she must be what they wanted and needed her to be.”
― Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall

“Why is it 'housewife'? What would I call myself if we lived in a hotel? Nobody ever puts down just 'wife,' or even just 'mother.' If you haven't got a job, and you don't keep house, then you aren't anything. apparently. I wish I was something else. I mean, besides keeping house, I wish I was a designer, for instance. The children would think a lot more of me, if I was a designer. Maybe Tom would, too.”
― Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall

“Then she realised that Levy had been silent for some time, and, like most shy people, she was afraid of silence.”
― Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall

“I'm like a doll, she thought. I'm not real. As she sat at dinner with her family, this sense of unreality became almost frightening.”
― Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall

“She had always been faintly disappointed in herself, disappointed in school because she had not been remarkable, disappointed when she married because she had not become the perfect housekeeper, most of all disappointed in herself as a mother.”
― Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall

“Someone would come and see her. Someone always came. There was always a knock at the door. Everyone had a right to come to her; that was what she was for, that was her function, her reason for being. There was never an hour that belonged to her.”
― Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall