The Stolen Hours Quotes

“Lila wanted to scream the first time he said that. He had no idea what it was like. He was a man. How could he understand? Forgive her attackers? Hell no! Kill them, maybe. Put them in prison at the very least. But never forgive them.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“I’ll never be the same. I can’t be. I look in the mirror and I don’t see myself. I see…” She paused as the anger behind her eyes turned sad. “I see something broken.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“Niki said, “Why would Frank Dovey be looking into your old assault case?” “I’m not sure. I think he holds a grudge because of the Pruitt case. But I was only a law student. Is he really that petty?” “Yes, he is,” Niki said.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“By the time she went to bed Sunday night, Lila was convinced that keeping her circumstances to herself was more an act of discretion than deception. It posed no harm to anyone. But as she lay awake, listening to Joe sleep next to her, she found little comfort in the twists of her logic, knowing that she cast a far bigger shadow in Joe’s eyes than she deserved.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“Convictions and prison sentences were just words when you weren’t the one sitting in the box. And at the end of the day, the lawyers all went home.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“Exposing his lisp to her, even if what he said had been a truth she needed to hear, had been a lapse in judgment, and he could not afford such mistakes.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“but I’m telling you now, if this is all we have to give a jury, he may walk.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“Gavin felt assured that the world would neither mourn nor miss this woman. He lifted his camera and snapped a picture, which made her smile. But this picture wouldn’t be included in the package of photographs that he would give to the bride. This one was for him, a memorial of the exact second that Gavin chose her, a memento to keep in his secret hiding place—with the others.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“Joe would have told her that none of that had been her fault. He would have kissed the top of her head as he explained that she had done everything right. She almost called him but stopped herself. He would race home and lift this burden from her shoulders, but this time that wasn't what Lila wanted. She loved him to hell and back, but she knew she needed to stand against this wind on her own.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours

“Don’t confuse hatred for strength,” Dr. Roberts had said. “The forgiveness isn’t for them. It’s for you.”
― Allen Eskens, The Stolen Hours