Sisters of Shiloh Quotes

“Grief, he thought, would have an ending, but it was a black cat that ran across life, through good conversations and orange firelight and endless drills. It sat on his shoulders and made his knees creek when he stood up. It balanced in the crook of his arm as he cleaned his rifle. And he could not banish it; it was loyal as a dog.”
― Kathy Hepinstall, Sisters of Shiloh

“You are chicken for sure. Got a whole yellow trickle moving the wrong direction down these parts, and a trickle of black folks going the other way. Black and yellow, like a bumblebee.”
― Kathy Hepinstall, Sisters of Shiloh

“You boys ain’t but two weeks off the farm. Your mama probably gave you your last bath. You think you went through one battle and you’re soldiers now? I saw that boy fight for his cause. I saw him sicken and almost die for it. He sang around that fire when he had nothing left to sing. He sang for us. that boy gave everything and then he up and left and I say God bless him.”
― Kathy Hepinstall, Sisters of Shiloh

“She loved him that much, in a way that made no space for herself, as though he were a full glass of tea and she was the piece of ice that would cause an overspill onto the tablecloth.”
― Kathy Hepinstall, Sisters of Shiloh

“They were sisters, the pretty one and the one who lived in her shadow, a pale, chip-toothed, uncertain girl who made too much noise while eating celery.”
― Kathy Hepinstall, Sisters of Shiloh

“In that darkness they exchanged rumors: A dozen victims had been drawn and quartered. John Brown had eaten their flesh. Slaves were rising up everywhere, holding secret meetings in an old cemetery at the edge of town. Arden had heard that the first sign of the uprising would be the discovery of all the dogs in Winchester piled in a heap at the edge of town, their throats cut. even families like the Beales who owned no slaves would not be spared. revenge would trade color for color; whites would die for no other crime than being white. At that very moment, John Brown’s disciples were trying to free him from jail before his execution.”
― Kathy Hepinstall, Sisters of Shiloh