There’s a moment of profound sadness that can be dispelled only by summoning my anger.

A man bumps me on his busy way without so much as an apology. But that is all right. I forgive you, busy man about town with the sharp elbows. Hail and farewell to you! For I, Gemma Doyle, am to have a splendid Christmas in London town. All shall be well. God rest us merry gentlemen. And gentlewomen.

Because 'You're perfect just the way you are,' is what your guidance counselor says. And she's an alcoholic.

I am no longer content to be the scared, obedient schoolgirl. Who are you, a stranger, to tell me what I can and cannot do?

It's possible to pretend I'm someone other than who I am, and if I pretend long enough, I can believe it.

Power changes everything till it is difficult to say who are the heroes and who the villains.

We're still expected to color within the lines of accepted femininity, and women who step out of those lines are usually attacked, whether verbally or physically.