The Dressmaker's Gift Quotes
"A gust of hot, stale air, belched from the tangle of tunnels below ground, buffets my legs and snatches at my hair as I wrestle my heavy suitcase up the steps of the Métro and emerge into the light of the Paris afternoon."
"I don’t usually believe in fate, but it felt as if a force was at work, drawing me to Paris."
"Perhaps he’d wanted to hide it away up there so that I’d only find it when I’d grown up enough to be ready to see its contents, once the passing years had softened the edges of my grief."
"The wide brown tape had lost its stickiness over the years and it lifted away from the cardboard as I touched it, crackling softly."
"And now I am angry. And anger is stronger than fear."
"But you’re wrong, Claire. It is never too late."
"It’s perfect," I say. And I mean it. Because this tiny room is mine. My own space, for the next twelve months."
"Most of them were young, about the same age as Simone and me. But we try to stay focused on our work; the unremitting demands of the job force us all to carry on."
"The company may be relatively small but it punches above its weight, numbering amongst its clientele several up-and-coming designers, a luxury accessories brand and a new eco-cosmetics company."
"She has a knack for spotting promising new talent and finding creative ways to promote the new kids on the fashion block."
"As the days go by, it’s not unheard of for me to find myself making small-talk with a former supermodel who is developing her own line of swimwear."
"The account manager shrugs. ‘Feel free. We have nothing to lose, and perhaps it would be a good way to begin to gauge interest across the Channel.’"
"Simone’s friends are a creative bunch and they include a gallery owner, a designer, an actress, a sound engineer and at least two musicians."
"For most of my life, I have dwelt in a sort of no man’s land where loneliness has been an easier option than trying to fit in."
"You can’t let terror win. It becomes all the more important to resist the urge to give in to fear."
"We’re here to make sure that the freedom to live our lives cannot be taken away from us."
"It’s a realisation that leads me, inevitably, to two further streams of thought and they tangle and knot themselves in the pit of my stomach."
"But to realise, now, that perhaps it’s not unique to me, that maybe it’s one of those threads which run back through generations, makes me feel strangely unsettled."
"The excitement is over. Don’t expect you are all going to be invited downstairs so that clients can give you tips. That sort of thing only happens once in a blue moon."
"But the important thing is that you’ve learnt your lesson now. The next time a dashing German officer crosses your path, you won’t take the bait quite so easily, I reckon."
"You’re wrong, Claire. You have us. Your family. You have always had your family."
"The work on that tea-dress is taking longer than I’d expected. But tomorrow is Saturday, so I won’t have to get up too early."
"Well, they were pretty much right on that front," laughed Mireille, gesturing towards the empty soup bowls and the scattering of crumbs on the breadboard which were all that remained of their scant supper.
"You will make a very useful messenger, I believe. Mireille will advise you, and pass you your instructions from time to time."
"And so it was, one evening when Vivi had stayed on at her work in the sewing room again, that Claire knocked on the door of Mireille’s room."
"Monsieur Leroux appeared completely unconcerned by the soldier’s presence and even nodded pleasantly in the guard’s direction as he passed by."
"I hate them. I hate what they have done to me, personally – to my family – and what they continue to do to our country."
"But now it had been awakened and Mireille recognised a flame of resolute defiance in her friend, the same flame that burned in her own breast."
"In my mind’s eye, I see the flashing blue lights of another police car. This one isn’t speeding past, though. Instead, it’s parked at the gate outside my house."