Sarah Perry

Cora, you cannot always keep yourself away from things that hurt you. We all wish that we could, but we cannot : to live at all is to be bruised. I don't know what has come between you and your friends, but I know that none of us was made to be alone. You told me once you forget you are a woman, and I understand it now - you think to be a woman is to be weak - you think ours is a sisterhood of suffering ! Perhaps so, but doesn't it take greater strength to walk a mile in pain than seven miles in none ? You are a woman, and must begin to live like one. By which I mean : have courage.