“You also have to work with the love you are given, with all of the complications clanging behind it like tin cans to a bridal sedan.”
Work
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy's time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
Quotes
Showing 1-5 of 5
Tayari Jones
Canonical work source
“You also have to work with the love you are given, with all of the complications clanging behind it like tin cans to a bridal sedan.”
“Sometimes it's exhausting for me to simply walk into the house. I try and calm myself, remember that I've lived alone before. Sleeping by myself didn't kill me then and will not kill me now....”
“Everything I do is a love letter addressed to you.”
“Maybe that's what it means to be in love, to willingly be at the mercy of another person.”
“Ours was a love story, the kind that’s not supposed to happen to black girls anymore. This was vintage romance made scarce after Dr. King, along with Negro-owned dress shops, drugstores, and...”