A Stranger in the House Quotes

“Earlier today Brigid visited her favorite shop, Knit One Purl Too. She was running out of the fabulous purple Shibui yarn she’d bought last time. The minute she walked in the door and saw all the colorful skeins of yarn bundled along the walls, almost up to the ceiling, she felt her spirits lift. So much color, so much texture—such unlimited possibilities!”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House: A Novel

“Suspicion is an insidious thing; doubts have started creeping in, things that he’d previously been able to ignore.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Why can’t we have a love story instead of a marriage? This”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“And yet, he's still in love with her. How much easier all this would be if he wasn't.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“having to pretend for either her husband or her lawyer,”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She hopes that she will love him this way for the rest of her life. But just because she loves him, and he loves her, it doesn't mean he knows her. What is love anyway, she thinks, but a grand illusion? We fall in love with an ideal, not a reality. Tom loves who he thinks she is. He's proven himself to be remarkably adaptable in that regard. She loves who she thinks he is. And that's the way it is the whole world over, she tells herself, watching out the train window, people falling in and out of love, as their perception of reality changes.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Brigid says, “She stopped being my friend the day she killed that man and lied to you and ruined your life. What kind of woman does that to the man she loves? You deserve so much better than that.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Jennings pops his head in Rasbach’s door again at the end of the day. Rasbach looks up. “What is it?” Rasbach asks. “We got another call about the Krupp case. From the same woman.” “Already? What did she say this time?” “She asked why we weren’t searching the Krupps’ property for the murder weapon.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“The house sits on a gentle curving street that ends in a cul-de-sac. The surrounding houses are all equally attractive and well maintained, and relatively similar. People who live here are successful and settled; everyone's a little bit smug.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Before I met you, Brigid and I—we had an affair. It was a mistake. I broke it off just before I met you.” He looks at her, ashamed.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“It made Brigid wonder about Karen. She never seemed to talk about her life before she was with Tom, other than saying that she was from Wisconsin, and that she had no family.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“They get a new ID, then drop out of sight, move somewhere else, start over. Change their appearance. They become perfect citizens. They don’t want to be pulled over, they don’t want to be noticed.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She looks at him, her eyes steadily on his. “Do you really think I’m capable of killing someone? Do you really think I’m capable of murder?”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She seems like a nice woman. Educated, well spoken—not the kind you’d expect to do that kind of thing. Clearly, her husband is at a loss, too.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“The only worrying thing is that you can’t remember the accident, but that’s not too uncommon. Your memory will most likely come back in a bit.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She wishes she could tell her why she’s so frightened. But she can’t tell her best friend, or her husband, the truth.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She remembers how frightened she’d been. All those times she’d come home and found things slightly out of place, subtle signs that someone had been going through her things. It had scared her. And Tom knew nothing about it.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Maybe he’d feel more like telling her the truth if she went first.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She’s not a woman who needs a man’s protection…she’s the kind of woman from whom men need to be protected.”
“What is love anyways…but a grand illusion”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Maybe he’s caught in traffic.” She”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She’s the kind of woman from whom men need to be protected. The thought makes her smile.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She loves Tom. She loves him so much that it surprises her a little. She hopes that she will love him this way for the rest of her life. But just because she loves him, and he loves her, it doesn’t mean he knows her. What is love anyway, she thinks, but a grand illusion? We fall in love with an ideal, not a reality. Tom loves who he thinks she is. He’s proven himself to be remarkably adaptable in that regard. She loves who she thinks he is. And that’s the way it is the whole world over, she tells herself, watching out the train window, people falling in and out of love, as their perception of reality changes.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“Tom will never again live in a comfortable, unsuspecting bubble, thinking that nothing bad is ever going to happen. He knows better now.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“I know it makes me seem cold-blooded,” Karen says, eyeing each of them almost defiantly. “But what would you have done in my place?” When neither man answers, she says, “Right, you would never be in my place. How wonderful for you—how easy it must be to be a man.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“She’s remarkably composed. It’s almost as if he’s watching someone else, an actor, playing his wife.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“all they’ve found is a pair of pink rubber gloves with a floral print near the elbows, discarded in a small parking lot a short distance away.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“One of her favourite things is to look out at the passing scenery as the train eats up the miles, and think and plan and dream. She likes to pretend that she could be going anywhere, be anyone. She's always been tempted by the road not taken.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“There's a soft glow of light behind the curtains, a warmth, a happiness there that she knows she will never attain, no matter how much she aspires to it, no matter how much she's willing to do to get it.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“It's like something in her mind is twisted, and we're caught up in it somehow, like we're part of some fantasy she has.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House

“It's almost like it used to be. But it's nothing like it used to be.”
― Shari Lapena, A Stranger in the House