The Virgin Blue Quotes
"She was called Isabelle, and when she was a small girl her hair changed colour in the time it takes a bird to call to its mate."
"The sun appeared from behind a wall of clouds and lit up the blue so brightly that Isabelle clasped her hands behind her neck and squeezed her elbows against her chest."
"Les fleurs, her mother had called it, special flowers from God, a gift she was to keep quiet about because it set her apart."
"Throughout the night Isabelle held Marie’s hand, squeezed it during contractions, and wiped her forehead with a damp cloth."
"She looked at the black patch spreading on her chest, then sat in the late summer sun on the bench next to the door."
"This place of worship has been the scene of corruption. It is in safe hands now. It is in your hands."
"As she looked up at the Virgin, Etienne took a step back and disappeared from her side."
"The blood left a faint trace on the floor that no amount of sweeping or scrubbing could erase."
"Rick loved Lisle-sur-Tarn when he saw it, and made me feel better about my choice by kissing me and spinning me around in his arms."
"If you do not pronounce the words well, no one will understand what you say."
"What you must do is to think in French. There should be no English in your head."
"‘What a wonderful profession for a woman!’ Madame Sentier crowed when she heard I was studying to qualify as a midwife in France. ‘What noble work!’"
"I was twenty-eight, Rick and I had been married two years, and the pressure from everyone, ourselves included, was beginning to mount."
"It's kind of like a parachute jump. Remember when we did that last year? You're up in this tiny plane and you keep thinking, Two minutes till I can't say no anymore, One minute till I can't turn back, then, Here I am balancing by the door, but I can still say no. And then you jump and you can't get back in, no matter how you feel about the experience."
"I sucked at the inside of my cheek, then took a big bite of tart. ‘It’s a big decision,’ I said with my mouth full."
"Something did change that night. That night I had the dream for the first time."
"For one thing, I’d never had sex because I felt I had to – it had always been because I wanted to."
"Above all, I was exhausted. I was sleeping badly, dragged into a room of blue each night."
"‘You know more about this than me,’ he said. ‘I’m just the hired gun. You tell me what to do.’"
"My infatuation with Lisle-sur-Tarn ended not long after I stopped sleeping."
"‘I would like to apply for a card,’ I replied carefully in French, trying to pronounce the words without any trace of an American accent."
"‘Je suis un pot cassé,’ I said suddenly. ‘I am a broken pot? Where did that come from?’"
"In fact French women in the city were so different from me that I often felt invisible around them, a disheveled ghost standing aside to let them pass."
"Do they know I’m American? I thought. Is it that obvious?"
"I felt like a kid who’s embarrassed by her parents in front of her friends."
"After paying I pushed through the door and entered cloisters, a peaceful, sunny spot."
"It was a painting of Christ taken off the cross, lying on a sheet on the ground, his head resting in an old man’s lap."
"I would never have guessed there had been a painter in the family."
"They say a garrison is coming from Mende, the steward boomed. To take advantage of the Duc’s death."
"We do not need to leave this house, she continued. We are protected here."
"God will protect you, she whispered in Susanne’s ear. God and the Duchesse’s men."
"Marie, where can we be safe? she demanded. Tell God we want to be safe."
"We could go to Calvin. To Geneva, where it is safe. Where the Truth is free."
"You will be thankful enough to have them to eat, mon petit. All men are poor in the eyes of God."
"Be careful, Papa, she whispered. The soldiers may come."
"I will fight for the Truth, he replied. I am not afraid."
"Because God does not want you to sin. Because murder is a sin."
"I hadn’t expected to have to wait, to tell him with so many people around."
"I knew who he was; my gut feeling was all the proof I needed."
"I began working on Madame Sentier’s assignment halfheartedly."
"Sarcasm was the cheapest form of humour, according to my mother."
"I was tired and in an uncharitable mood, which wasn’t improved by a dark, narrow hotel room."
"Maybe my face reflected this thought, because when Jean-Paul spoke again his tone was kinder."
"It’s not concrete, so why should I believe it?"
"I took the scenic route back to Lisle, following the Tarn through winding gorges."
"You can’t expect me to tell you where I am if you don’t tell me where you are."
"It is a small town. Many old women there have nothing to do but watch and discuss what they see."
"In a small place everyone knows everyone else’s business. They believe it is their right to know if you are having a baby."
"What offends them most is when it’s in front of them, under their nostrils."
"God wills it, Gaspard said, and laughed as if he had just told a joke."
"Life could be surprisingly compartmentalized."
"But people see what they look for; Rick expected me to be a certain way, so that was how I was to him."
"When I bought the Herald Tribune and Le Monde, the woman who sold them was perfectly pleasant, giving me no strange looks, even remarking on the weather."
"Oh, for Christ’s sake, I thought, enough’s enough."
"Madame snapped her mouth shut, pressing her lips together so hard they disappeared."
"I suspected Madame wouldn’t like the pâtisserie; what they sold would seem too frivolous to her, a serious bread woman."
"The Bible was an odd size, long and unexpectedly narrow. But it wasn’t too heavy and it felt comfortable in my arms."
"That was the beginning of everything. The world split apart!"
"‘You are very wicked, Ella Tournier,’ he murmured in French."
"‘Ah, but I have a professional reason to talk to you.'"
"So nothing’s changed much over 400 years, really."
"It’s different for me. It’s always different for a man here."
"You know, Ella Tournier, all that talk in French last night has made your mouth bigger. I am sure of it!"
"Ah, you, you are difficult! Like a little cat with its claws like this –"
"It was so cold that they opened the door only once a day, to get wood and hemp. Often the sky was grey, full of snow, and it was almost as dark outside as in the house."
"First she dreamed of the shepherd in a field of broom. He was pulling off the yellow flowers and squeezing them between his fingers. Put these in hot water and drink it, he said. Then you will be well."
"I thought I was being careful, but one night he grabbed my hand and discovered the blood. He beat her and afterwards took her violently from behind. It was a relief not to have to look at his face."
"Marie clapped her hands and laughed. She lay on her back on the floor and he carefully pulled at her dress so that the pebbles would outline its full shape."
"Isabelle began to keep Marie close to her, teaching her to spin, having her roll up balls of thread, knitting little dresses for her doll."
"This is called hope, she thought. This is what I had forgotten."
"She helped Marie into her dress. Her daughter was fidgety, jumping around the room, laughing to herself."
"During the service Isabelle was able to glance several times at the Virgin. She felt Etienne’s eyes on her occasionally, but kept her face solemn, her joy hidden."
"I smiled at Jacob’s open face. He doesn’t know yet, I thought. It was funny: I was family enough for him to ask me personal questions, but not so close that he would be afraid to hear the answer."
"I watched him for a moment, ashamed of my own worries when here was real tragedy, a man grieving over his wife’s grave."
"The stretching movement made a patch on my arm fill with blood."
"‘Perfect timing, dog,’ I said. ‘Don’t let me wallow.’"
"Rick said it was so he could see the dimensions of the rooms better; for me it was like cleansing them of ghosts."
"‘Wait a minute, what is it?’ Then I remembered the tradition my grandmother had taught me: whoever loses their bread in the fondue pot first will never marry."
"No, in our family it means you won’t marry."
"It was like we were being dragged inside by a cool male logic we couldn’t fight."
"Of course you’ll be all right. It probably hurts a little now, yes?"
"So that we can remain neutral. A country cannot be neutral unless it has a strong army."
"What is it with these men? Again I wished Jean-Paul were here: he would argue with me about the usefulness of what I wanted to do, he would question my sanity, but he would back me if he knew it was important to me."
"It comes with your new hair, Isabelle thought, and with being my daughter. Even here. Yet I have no magic to protect you with, nothing to keep you safe from the cold and the dark."
"I thought I was so clever with my secrets, Isabelle brooded sombrely, looking at the goat’s bed. That no one would ever know. It seemed a long time ago to her, a winter away."
"It is driving me like a sheep, Isabelle thought, forcing me to go where it wants."
"We were silent during the drive. I was grateful that he didn’t ask a lot of questions the way I would have if I were in his position: I didn’t have any answers for him."
"‘It is better that you know now,’ Lucien said, ‘so that if you can help it you don’t bring a child into a world without love.’"
"No. I just want to find something. Something that is mine."
"‘I’m not sure my husband is the right man to have children with,’ I said then. ‘I’ve never been sure.’ Saying it aloud, to Lucien of all people, felt like breaking a window. The very sound of the words shocked me."
"‘You are married.’ It was more a statement than a question, but I confirmed it with a nod."
"‘Remember me,’ she said. She turned into Jean-Paul; he hadn’t shaved in days and looked rough, his hair grown out so it curled at the ends, his face and arms and shirt covered with soot. I reached out and touched his face, and when I took my hand away there was a scar from his nose to his chin."
"‘How did you get this?’ I asked. ‘From life,’ he replied."
"‘I think it may be the medication the doctor put me on,’ I interrupted. ‘Sometimes there are traces of it still in the system. I’m sorry, I just can’t eat.’"
"‘That’s a pretty blue,’ she said at last. ‘What happened to the rest of her dress?’"
"‘It –’ Rotted – another word I didn’t know. ‘It got old and was destroyed,’ I explained clumsily."
"Because she needs a home. She can’t stay here forever."
"You really need to talk to Rick, n’est-ce pas? About all of this."
"I don’t think I love you anymore! That’s what I’m trying to say, but you won’t listen!"
"You aren’t listening to me. You take the metaphor and mangle it. You just won’t listen to what I’m trying to say."