The Last Heir to Blackwood Library Quotes

“Heaven truly was an untouched stash of books, just waiting to be opened and read.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“The sky had never held much interest for her, being in the opposite direction one must look if one wants to enjoy a book.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“The pursuit of knowledge is the pursuit of the divine. How can we profess to know God without understanding all that he knows? And how can we attain that knowledge in but the brief window of time we are given on this earth?”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Inside was always preferable simply by virture of there being books.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Voices fade, photographs are just tricks of lights and mirrors, and touch is a passing phantom. But scent lingers, and even long after the last particle of someone’s essence is gone, the faintest smell can bring all the memories rushing back.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“The only thing that kept the lonliness at bay was the Library. Wandering the bookstacks at the British Library had always been a favorite passtime, not just because of the books themselves but because of the stories they held, the hands they had passed through. Dog ears, unexpected bookmarks, even love letters tucked into pages made it feel like a treasure hunt.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“He liked books and anyone who liked books had to be at the very least, a decent person.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“But such knowledge immortalized on parchment was powerful, and power in the wrong hands could be dangerous.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Christ, Ivy.” He regarded her with deeply haunted eyes, but did not move away. “That’s why we fought, for people like you, sweet girls who have their whole lives ahead of them, so that you’d never have to know the hardships of the world.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Of course not. You are selfish and small-minded. This is why someone of your station is unfit to hold a title, to be responsible for the purity of English blood.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“The smell of blood filled Ivy’s nostrils, her lungs, her very being. Her father’s demise, her mother’s broken heart and subsequent decline, it had all stemmed from this man and his obsession with the manuscript. She was frozen in a moment in war where a soldier must decide if he is to stay in a foxhole, or take his chance going over the top.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Arthur had betrayed her in every sense possible, treated her like a child, a prisoner, a sacrificial lamb. But under the bravado and hard veneer was a scared little boy who wanted to please his father.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Her voice rose as she realized that her chance to set everything to rights was slipping through her fingers, simply because Ralph felt the need to assert his masculine ego.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“The monk was everything dark and evil, had perverted the nun’s words, twisting them for his own vile purposes. Whatever mystical knowledge she had committed to the pages had been powerful perhaps, but not harmful. The manuscript as it was today was a corruption of the original”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“He was not a man, and not yet a ghost. He was everything that was dark and twisted and wrong.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“It will be all right. I don’t know what will happen, but I promise you, it will be all right. The abbey can burn, Arthur can have his library, but I will die before I let anything happen to you.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Had he always possessed that cruel edge to his voice? Had she simply been too infatuated to notice?”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Who knows what would have happened if this one had disappeared out into the world? My father was right—you are proving to be more of a liability than anything else. If it weren’t for the library’s need to feed...”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Ivy felt as if she were seeing it for the first time. Had the air always been so heavy, the windows so sinister and watchful?”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“It’s a good thing your mother isn’t here to see you. What would she think of her son who couldn’t fight, not even being able to read an old book!” Another coughing fit. “Figure it out, boy, and be quick about it.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“But they don’t understand how dangerous it would be, how impossible to harness its powers for such a specific use. You saw for yourself what happened when you lent out the books. Now imagine that, but in the hands of men hungry for power and mass destruction.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Prescott said that the dose was enough to put her out for hours yet. In the meantime, I say we find the manuscript and begin.” Coldness shot through Ivy’s veins. Arthur had drugged her, and they were down there talking about it as if it was just another item on the evening’s itinerary.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Don’t let them forget who pays their wages and provides the roof over their heads. It’s the only thing that separates us from anarchy, and it’s the prerogative of our bloodline to keep the order.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“She would never understand the rich decrying their dwindling means, when so much wealth sat right under their very roofs in the form of fine furniture and silver collections. Was it really such a hardship to them to part with a few candlesticks and paintings?”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Would a place like Watson Castle ever have admitted a woman through its doors, and a poor woman at that? It was one thing to lend out books, but another entirely to invite the world into her home, and a feeling of protectiveness washed through her.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“He’s only interested in the library, Ivy,” he said. “It’s no secret that his father is insolvent, that they’re holding on to their estate by a thread.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“The journal had been a place to keep her secrets, document her fears and the events of her day-to-day life.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“This is why education for women is dangerous—you have all this knowledge and nothing to do with it. Come to the club. You’ll meet some interesting people, have some lively discussions.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“This house will stand long after you have come and gone and been forgotten. These books are not simply books, they are part of the house, and they belong here.”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

“Ivy hadn’t needed to marry a man to gain her wealth or security. Besides, what man could have ever provided her with such a treasure as this?”
― Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library