The Road Beyond Ruin Quotes

“I did hate once, but hate now lives in the past. And I prefer to remember the past, not live in it.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“Children are simply incomplete adults, he would say. It is important to help complete them, not treat them like imbeciles.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“the sound of crying offensive, the evasive answers annoying, Erich would find that such brute force would be a necessary part of the job, and that people like his associate served a purpose.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“family. But just to prove superiority, the Gestapo member who accompanied him hit the man across the face at the end of the questioning. The Jew then became difficult, and Erich asked that the children be removed from the room. They had begun to whimper, the one thing most likely to distract him. Erich continued to question the man who held a hand to his bruised face, pretending coldly that there had been no harm done, and the interview concluded quickly. Once outside”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“During one of his early interrogations, he was accompanied by an SS officer that Erich considered to have few social capabilities. Erich was able to talk a Jewish man into cooperating, convincing him in a nonthreatening way to assist Erich and advising him that he would have to vacate the apartment for new accommodations on the outskirts of the city. The Jew, the father of the family, with his wife, his”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“small.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“And I prefer to remember the past, not live in”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“Yes, he has sent some good news. Adolf Hitler has won. His party will now run Germany unchallenged.” “Why is that good, Mutti?” “Because he will help the people who are struggling to put food on their tables. He will put a stop to foreigners living here and taking our jobs. And he will protect us from those who seek to feud with Germany.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“I don’t want to go home,” whispers Michal, and his eyes begin to water. And Stefano is wondering about the dark places that the boy has called home.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“And then came the lies, the poisonous lies. Rosalind didn’t want to hear them. She had already”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“These flags supposedly represented greatness, which was at odds with the lessening prosperous circumstances.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“He looks at the boy and wonders at the power of children that he has never known before.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“I used to pray all autumn, winter, and spring for summer to come sooner.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“Because he will help the people who are struggling to put food on their tables. He will put a stop to foreigners living here and taking our jobs. And he will protect us from those who seek to feud with Germany.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“Erich says nothing. His feelings toward his former führer are mixed. One cannot suddenly dismiss a loyalty that has been bred, then fed and nurtured until it has become part of one’s blood.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“Why her mother had seemed so bitter at times, Rosalind never really considered, until Monique brought it up when they were some years older. She concluded that there were those who were born with a frown and those born with a smile. And a little after that, Rosalind would realize that she was born with a frown also, that one’s nature was difficult to alter.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“the time she reached the familiar track. She passed the clearing near the river where Georg had played with her and Monique,”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin

“Despite everything she was given, despite being on the winning side, she was freely making a choice; something that most had accepted was no longer available to them.”
― Gemma Liviero, The Road Beyond Ruin