"Women who drink champagne when there is nothing to celebrate can look like that: their straw hats with broken brims are often askew; they nod in public places; their shoes are undone."

Beloved by Toni Morrison

To my shame I’d never heard of Toni Morrison until her recent passing so decided to read something of hers and Beloved was in the bookshop. Not knowing the background of the book (aside slavery) and that it was based on a true story made it all the better (because I didn’t know what was coming) so ignorance worked in my favour here; As a rule I skip forewards and any blurb until the end for this reason. On it’s own this quote is not at all representative of the rest of the book, but it stood out to me as I was reading it and it wasn’t until someway past this point in the book that I realised this was the pivotal moment.