The Forgetting Quotes

“The overriding memory you have of your dad is this all-powerful, tyrannical man. And that’s the version of him you’re still carrying inside you. But that’s not who he is any more. He’s an old man. He’s frail and weak. And perhaps if you saw him like that, it might . . . I don’t know . . . take away some of his power.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“Each twisted preference designed to destabilise my sense of identity, to shape me into the wife he wanted me to be: compliant and isolated, uncertain and dependent. A wife who mirrored his interests, as though he were Pygmalion and I Galatea, carved from ivory, every sweep of my desires a product of his creation. A woman who didn’t dare leave the house for too long in case I missed his calls: those regular daily interactions designed to keep me at home, entirely reliant on him.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“My eyes dart from one person to the next – elderly couples, women on bikes, men jogging, children playing – searching for a face I know too well and would be happy never to see again. But there is no one I recognise. Just my own anxiety, lurking in the shadows, refusing to believe he will ever let us be free.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“I ignore him shouting at me that my life is empty, pointless, that I am weak, pathetic, that I will soon be begging him to take me back.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“I hate to say this, but a man never hurts a woman only once. There’s always a second time.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“I’m sorry things got heated earlier. I saw this in a shop a few days ago and thought of you.’ With his hands on her shoulders, he’d turned her around, kissed her again. It had been such a deviation from his earlier anger that Livvy had felt as though, during their row, she had been visited by an interloper, like Loki shapeshifting into different guises, and only now had the real Dominic returned.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“You did what?’ Incredulity flooded Livvy’s cheeks. ‘You sent emails, pretending to be me? From my account?’ Dominic offered a guilty half-smile. ‘I have been telling you for months not to have the same password for everything.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“The desire to control, to domineer, to intimidate.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“wanting the best for somebody, not imposing your will on them.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“that this is not the first time Stephen has tried to twist the narrative, cast himself as the victim. I do not know how I have reacted in the past. All I know is that I won’t tolerate it now.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting

“the wealth of opportunities spread out before them like roads paved with gold.”
― Hannah Beckerman, The Forgetting