The Rules of Survival Quotes

As I write this, you are nine years old, too young to be told the full and true story of our family's past, let alone be exposed to my philosophizing about what it all meant. (P.1)

Emmy, the events we lived through taught me to be sure of nothing about other people. They taught me to expect danger around every corner. They taught me to understand that there are people in this...

Meanwhile, Murdoch said, quietly but audibly, "If you want to hurt somebody, you can hurt me. Go on. Hit me. I won't hit back. You can do it until you're not angry anymore. I'll let you." (1.24)

However, it was a date night for our mother—Saturday—so we'd been locked in. "I want my kiddies safe," Nikki had said. Not that they key mattered. Once Callie and I heart you snoring—a soft l...

"She did," I said. The word came spitting out, and then I couldn't stop talking. "That was her last night. Did you realize that? That was her. My mother. That guy, she brought him home. She wanted...

But Murdoch talked directly to the kid. "It's wrong for anybody ever to hurt you. No matter who does it, it's wrong. Can you remember that?" (1.30)

I looked for Murdoch for the rest of my thirteenth year. The first thing I did was go back to the convenience store to ask the teenage clerk if he had seen that man before, or if he knew whether he...

That particular night, I did it. I kept us out of the way, unnoticed. So, in fact, you could say that my very first memory is one of success. Of triumph. Of watching Callie go back to sleep safely,...

He says Nikki looked him up and down when he opened the door. She had you in her arms, and, smiling over your head, she introduced herself. "Murdoch McIlvane? Listen, I know this'll sound crazy, bu...

I have decided to write it all down for you, and I will, but that decision doesn't keep me from having my doubts. I wonder if maybe it would be better if you never read this. I wonder if you really...