The Last Tiara Quotes

“She was fascinated with how lives can change after one tiny moment that didn’t even seem consequential at the time, but in retrospect altered the trajectory of life.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“How we, as adults, come to be who we are, one layer at a time. How those early layers are the core that shapes and informs us but then each additional layer adds to our whole selves.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“I do remember it, what surprises me still is that I survived it. That is the mystery of our lives. That we do survive the unthinkable. We overcome the unimaginable. I didn’t believe I would ever love anyone again. And for more than two years I lived in despair and depression. And then one day, I walked into the Renaissance room at the museum— yes, I know the significance of which room it was — the very word means rebirth and renewal — and there was your mother sketching in front of a Raphael.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“When I remember my despair now, and I do remember it, what surprises me still is that I survived it. That is the mystery of our lives. That we do survive the unthinkable. We overcome the unimaginable.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“No one should ever feel that level of emotion for another person. Because if you love that hard, you have to break that hard. If you care that much about another human being, those very feelings can destroy you. Sofiya never wanted to love anyone again. Ever. She never wanted to worry about anyone. Or fear for anyone. Or panic over anyone being ill or missing or dead or dying. The grief wasn’t a small price to pay for the love—it was the greatest price. The pain was too gripping, too painful, too all-encompassing. She never wanted to feel any of it. Except she knew as she sat there on the hard floor, listening to her father’s quiet sobs, that there was one love she was yet to know that would be even greater than all the others and that she was powerless to do anything to stop it from overwhelming her life.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“Missing is one of the true tragedies in life,” he says. “That ache that nothing soothes. I thought time would soften it. It’s supposed to, isn’t it? But all these years later, I still long for what I had. What we all had. What is no more.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“The history you don’t want to talk about. The details you wish you could forget. The pain that never goes away, no matter how much time passes. I”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara

“you have to understand that a writer’s job is to make their story as dramatic as possible. Yes, stories are recreations of real life, but no one lives one lifetime with all the tragedy that a Russian writer can cram into a novel.”
― M.J. Rose, The Last Tiara