8 Quotes by Hala Alyan

It is not enoughto say 'love' in Arabic.You must say'be the thing that buries me.

She feels the anger quiet into a briny resentment. The bitterness floats like an inkblot in her mind’s eye.

She still loves him. This is the fact she wakes up to each morning. She checks it, sometimes, a tongue probing an aching tooth, making sure it still hurts.

In the city bombs peck the streets into a braille that we pretend we cannot read.

We inherit everything. Especially questions.

I just loved the idea of a place so old it only knew how to tell the truth.

The sea was like another member of the household, a recalcitrant child at times, a soothing aunt at others. She crooned them awake; she crooned them to sleep. Everywhere, there was the smell of salt.

Mustafa and Atef have joined the men by the fig tree..... Soon, there will be an argument; there always is. Blisters of rage, which must be drained. And the women, intimate with such scenes, will rise wearily, go to their husbands or brothers or fathers. Speak to them in soothing voices.