The Betrayals Quotes

“I close the loo seat and sit down. I’m not proud of what I do next. But who hasn’t done the wrong thing for the right reasons at least once in their life? I honestly thought this would be the end of something, not the beginning. I carefully peel off the Sellotape and the padded manila envelope flaps open. I just knew Lisa wouldn’t have licked it. She’s as careless with things as she is with people. I breathe in and out, as deep as I can, one hand holding the envelope, the other resting on my diaphragm as it rises to make sure that my abdominal muscles are contracting properly on the inbreath. I know more about breathing than any yoga teacher.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals

“My phone beeps. Twice in quick succession. When I see both voicemails are from Daisy I decide to ignore them. The days when communication from my sister required an immediate response are long gone. Or rather long, long, long, gone, gone, gone, as Daisy once might have put it. Occasionally, there was poetry in her illness, although she would never see it that way.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals

“Parents are the worst for holding you prisoner to the person you used to be.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals

“Maybe in the afterlife,’ I say, feeling sorry for him. ‘She’s my cadaver, Dad. And after today I can’t take her anywhere because I severed her optic nerve, so she’s got one eye hanging out. It’s not a good look.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals

“Always a mistake to neutralize anxiety with alcohol. It actually raises the production of stress hormones.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals

“It’s the Dunning-Kruger effect: the less you know the more likely you are to perceive yourself as an expert.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals

“one thing I’ve learnt is that life isn’t about doing the right thing. It’s about not doing the wrong thing.”
― Fiona Neill, The Betrayals