Quotes by Elizabeth Wein, The Pearl Thief

“If you're scared, do something.”

“I realized I would be forced to run away from home if someone tried to arrange a marriage for me. I didn't want to think about it.”

“How do you ever hold on to anybody?”

“She gave a low and delighted chuckle. Her eyes were black as a moonless December night and reflected the electric lights like stars.”

“Looking up at the stars and smoking in silence.”

“The wave of memory had submerged me for a whole minute, while I'd just sat staring and let it all come flooding back.”

“I need complicated railroad journeys and people speaking to me in foreign languages to keep me happy. I want to see the world and write stories about everything I see.”

“It is possible there are some things you want so badly that you will change your life to make them happen.”

“I love the story of a thing. I love a thing for what it means a thousand times more than for what it's worth.”

“Driving like a man is one of her few foibles.”

“Inspector Milne's suspicious prying appeared to have awakened her inner Bolshevik, and so I discovered my own lady mother is not above quietly circumventing the law.”

“I ken who you are! You're Strathfearn's granddaughter. Julie Stuart, is it? Och, aye, Lady Julia! Well then, Lady Julia, tell me -- who don't you deserve a glass of water?”

“Och, they suit you, Queenie! Promise me you'll wear them.”

“That is a terrifically intimate thing, you know? Letting a stranger light your cigarette. Leaning forward so he can hold a flame to your lips. Pausing to breathe in before you pull back again.”