I drank in his smell, I'd missed him so much more than I'd realized. Despite dreaming of him every night, besides my secret habit of writing Honor Hussain in curled scripts on every scrap piece of paper, I surprised myself by how much I needed him.

— Ruth Ahmed

I had to be an adult, be a father without a son, so for one last moment I needed to be a son who needed his mother.

— Ruth Ahmed

I needed a fresh start, away from the memories that we had made for him, away from the home that didn't feel like my own anymore. Away from the people that had been ready to welcome him. Away from Honor and Ali.

— Ruth Ahmed

I steadied by guitar against the table, and steadied myself with it. And forgot every rule I had ever known.

— Ruth Ahmed

It was things like that I remembered about Ruby, the incongruity, the struggle to find herself. No matter what she wore though she was always Ruby, always herself.

— Ruth Ahmed

I wanted my eternity in carbon molecules, in being part of the trees, the sky, air itself

— Ruth Ahmed

Look, my son, she is so beautiful, she has fair skin and green eyes and brown hair.'' She's English?' I asked cheekily, holding the cheap photo print with trepidation. Which unfortunate victim had they found for me to marry in what backwater, unbeknownst that my heart was not for trading? Honor would quote Shakespeare to make a point; for me, it was always Rum.' La Hawley walk Kuwait... May God protect us from such misfortune... you think I have lost my senses that I would marry you to a white girl?' My mum used the word Gore as an insult and yet when she talked about Bill she said 'Look how Gore she is.' Oh, Mum, the irony.' Well, you seem pretty obsessed with green eyes and skin color,' I mumbled.' She is gorgeous.' Mum went on ignoring me. 'Think how beautiful your children, my grandchildren, will be? They will have cats' eyes, just like Bill.' Honour has fair skin and green eyes too, and just think how beautiful your grandchildren will be if they're mixed race, I thought. I didn't say that to my mum, obviously.

— Ruth Ahmed

My heart was in my mouth. I realized that I had no desire to know anymore about her past. What was behind her made me feel sick, petrified. Only the future mattered now.

— Ruth Ahmed

People don't really change, they just adapt to circumstances.

— Ruth Ahmed

Ruby clapped her hands in glee and gave a comedic wiggle of her head, Bollywood style. I know the song now, can even sing it, but back then all I heard was the verdant Punjabi, the striking primary colors of the five rivers, the intricate history of a complex land.

— Ruth Ahmed