The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. Quotes

“A feeling of disquiet continues to haunt me. As a youth one dreams of love; by the time one wakes, it is too late.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“He calls me Josephine. He says I'm an angel, a saint, his good lucky star. I know I'm no angel, but in truth I have begun to like this Josephine he sees. She is intelligent; she amuses; she is pleasing. She is grace and charm and heart. Unlike Rose; scared, haunted and needy. Unlike Rose with her sad life.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“I play out the cards. They say: This is Heaven, this is Hell. It is one.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“The Queen has been guillotined, accused of crimes beyond imagining. Last night she appeared to me in a dream, handing me her head.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“You are thinking of the past." I put my arms around her. She'd risen from childbed too soon. "We are the past," she said.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“Daggers ever at the ready, I went about the day: children fed, linens mended, bedclothes aired. In little ways one conquers fear.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“I lowered myself into an armchair. I was enveloped in a cloud of dust. All that remained of my life was in my lap. I sat for a time thus, as still as the mute objects that surrounded me. How little it all meant, in the end.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“Now I have discovered where it is that she goes. It's the guillotine that draws her, across the river in the Place Louis Quinze- Place de la Revolution now-where daily crowds gather, the vendors selling lemonade, the children playing prisoner's base, the old ladies gossiping as the heads fall.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“I kissed his cheek. "My King." I swooped into the courtly curtsy he'd taught me as a girl, regally kicking an imaginary train aside as I turned to go. He was laughing silently as I left. For a moment I saw that spark again. I did not say goodbye.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

“One leads, willing or not," Deputy Tallien answered. "It takes courage to face one's own death but even more so the death of others. We are learning this lesson well.”
― Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.