Joanna Quotes

“Cold was easier to bear when you'd never been warm.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“...she sometimes felt so alone she worried she might vanish like the ink in an overused book. But here, with wildlife all around her and magic sweet in the air like good cider, she felt her lines and colours returning, her edges darkening, her core filling in.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“... when the physical and emotional boundaries of one's life were small, when one had walked every inch of one's allotted space many times over, it was easy to forget ignorance and feel a sort of mastery, instead.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Joanna had always known that there was quite a lot she didn't understand about the world, about the books, about her parents and their history. But when the physical and emotional boundaries of one's life were small, when one had walked every inch of one's allotted space many times over, it was easy to forget ignorance and feel a sort of mastery, instead. This house, that path, those books, that mountain; Joanna was used to being the expert and used to the safety that came with expertise.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“All's fair in love and family Christmases.”
― Lenora Worth, Sleigh Bells Ring

“...the closet of her sexual subconscious was full of petticoats.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“It took her a moment, as always, to acclimate to the roar that surged in her mind's ears, a sound she had attempted to describe to her sister and mother more than once but never could. Like being filled with golden bees that were all actually one bee, which was actually a field of shining wheat rustling beneath a blazing sun. It was a sound but not a sound. It was in her ears but it was in her head. It was like tasting a feeling and the feeling was power.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“It was hard to imagine wearing lace underwear and 'sexting,' but easy to imagine wearing lots of complicated layers and rolling around in front of a fireplace.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Later, as the sisters grew, Esther hyperfocused on their differences, but as a little kid she'd been far more hypnotised by their sameness. They both loved chewing lemon peels and watermelon rinds, loved pictures of goats but not actual goats, loved putting sand in their hair so they could scratch it out later, loved watching their parents slow-dance in the living room to Motown records. They loved the sound of the wind, the sound of breaking ice, the sound of coyotes calling on the mountain.

They disliked zippers, ham, the word 'milk', flute music, the gurgling sound of the refrigerator, Cecily's long weekends away, Abe's insistence on regular chess matches, and days with no clouds. They disliked the boxes of books that came to their door daily or were lugged home by their father, disliked their dusty lonesome smell and how they consumed Abe's attention. They disliked when their parents closed the bedroom door and fought in whispers. They hated the phrase 'half sister.' There had been no half about it.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“...she loved the first snow of the season, when all the faded browns of the sleeping earth were awakened into a new kind of aliveness, everything coarse made suddenly delicate, everything solid turned lacy and insubstantial. Magic that didn't need words to enact itself year after year.”
― Emma Törzs

“...listening for the bodily hum that ran like syrup through her veins whenever she was near a book... but the ink stayed black and silent.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“The words themselves eluded her eyes, they swam and darted like the colours of a kaleidoscope.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“...she went to the usual spot on her finger and poked with the sharp tip until a drop of blood welled obediently to the surface. It was the brightest colour in the room, more alive than even the body it had just quit.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Each of the volumes in the collection felt to Joanna like old friends, all the cracks and blemishes well known and forgiven, and save for the book Abe had died with, she knew the story behind each one.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Wasn't wishing someone unprotected the same as wishing them harm?”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Even without understanding the words, her sister's voice hit Joanna like a hammer against glass. It was unchanged, that voice. It sounded like Joanna's childhood, sunlit and safe and gone.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Are they organised?' Nicholas called to her. 'What's your system?'

'Right now they're grouped by how many estimated uses they have left,' Joanna said, glancing away from Collins. 'I reorganise them a lot, though, just for fun.'

She was aware, too late, how extremely un-fun this made her sound, but Collins saw her face and said, 'Don't worry, Nicholas is no fun, either.'

'Well, I haven't been given much of a chance, have I?' Nicholas said, carefully putting the book back in place. 'For all we know, I might be absolutely amazing at karaoke.'

'Karaoke's fun people who suck at dancing.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Good-looking blue-eyed men were usually the least trustworthy of anyone- how many times had she read of a villain with" icy blue eyes "? But Collins's eyes weren't icy at all. They were homey, soft, an old-denim blue like a pair of perfectly worn-in jeans, and they were focused on her now, full of hope. She found she didn't want to say no to him.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Are you and him...'

'Nah,' said Collins, and glanced at her sidelong. 'I, um, I prefer... long hair.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“Romance novels are about connection. About people who connect with one another against the odds- despite their differences, their flaws, their secrets. In a romance novel you never have to worry, you know everything will end happily.'

'Unlike real life,' Collins said. 'In real life you have to worry.'

'Exactly. That's why I used to prefer novels.'

'Used to?'

'Now I'm not so sure.'

He tilted his head. 'I've spent the last six months under a silencing spell that basically ruled out any chance I had of connecting with another person,' he said. 'Take it from me. The real thing is worth all the worry in the world.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“The thrum of magic filled the air; the endless sugar of a hot blue sky, the beat of a thousand gossamer wings, a wind that moved anything on earth that could be moved, which was everything.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe