A Caribbean Heiress in Paris Quotes

“It’s the same as Scots English,” she explained. “It’s not your tongue, it was forced on you, and like your whisky you’ve blended it into something that’s your own. Anyone who hears a Scotsman speak recognizes the sound. We’ve made this language that was imposed on us ours too. When I speak, West Africa is on my tongue, Taino is on my tongue. Castilians have their Spanish, and we have our own.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris: A Novel

“I don’t want to be your friend. I want to be your sentinel, your squire, the body that covers yours every night.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“This kingdom, this country, had waged war and destruction far and wide to keep grown men in this infantilized delusion. ... There was nothing more dangerous than an entitled man with nothing to lose.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris: A Novel

“On more than one occasion, Luz wondered if she was capable of stewarding their legacy into the future. A dream that had begun almost fifty years ago with Luz Alana’s mother, Clarise, and her grandfather Roberto Benzan. A distillery owned and operated not by the children of Spanish colonials but by a Black family. Where every pair of hands that worked to make the rum—from cutting the sugar cane to preparing the spirits for shipment—was entitled to a share of the profits. Caña Brava from its inception had been an experiment in what industry without exploitation could be, and it had thrived for decades.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“Forgive me, Your Grace, but I quite disagree with that assessment.” His wife’s smile could cut glass. “European men have always been quite adept in seeing the beauty in women who look like me. It’s our humanity they’ve failed to recognize.” That Luz delivered with eviscerating cordiality. “Women like you see it too. How else does one explain the cruelty of so many mistresses to the women who worked for them?”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“Talking is absolutely not required,” Manu said happily. “We can make it a game of charades. What are we contemplating here, platanote or platanito?”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“Nothing is irreversible if you’re willing to pay, Luz Alana.” “Spoken like a man born into power and wealth.” To his credit, he blushed.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“Lord?” he asked, and Evan’s mood darkened further. The magic word always seemed to work best on the absolutely worst people.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“He stopped abruptly, and Luz braced for it. The list of the many ways the colonies had benefited from having the Brits and the Spaniards ravage their people and their land. How they should be grateful for the language and the religion imposed on them. How fortunate they were to be allowed on British soil despite their...inadequacy”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“It’s easy to judge our morality or call us weak, but when the world is controlled by men who see us as dispensable, our survival depends on learning to discern between the battles we can win and which ones we can’t afford to lose.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“This kingdom, this country, had waged war and destruction far and wide to keep grown men in this infantilized delusion.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“How dare I what? Tell the truth? That we went to war with the English to fight for our land and our humanity, then we took to the seas and forgot it all. That we became monsters ourselves. All for the sake of this,” he said and gestured to the gilded moldings on the ceiling, the treasures that had been bought with money not a single one of the masters of this house had ever worked for. “To continue to sit in opulent rooms with marble fireplaces and denounce mentions of money because they’re much too vulgar for polite conversation. After we sold our souls for it!” His chest heaved from his words, and he felt light-headed with rage and repulsion, as his father looked at him through narrowed eyes.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“His place was not as her savior but as her sentinel.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“Men have made a world where only we can thrive. Everyone else is in a fight for survival.” “White men, you mean,” she countered. “By and large,” he responded with a sigh.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“You are a romantic, James Evanston.” She pressed herself to him and let him guide her around the room.
“You make me one, Luz Alana.”
He truly had never been one before. Always ruthlessly practical, but the moment this woman had come into his life, the things which had seemed all-important simply ceased to matter.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“Soothing his pride mattered less than her ability to stand up for herself. His place was not as her savior but as her sentinel. Luz Alana Sinclair-Heith could fight her own battles.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“You make me yearn to be known, and I don’t know how to do that.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

“leaving home was its own sort of death.”
― Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris