"Happenstance, he called it. Everything happens for a reason."
~ Mary Kubica
Read all great Mary Kubica quotes below ...
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In the landscape of contemporary fiction, few names evoke intrigue and suspense like Mary Kubica. With a penchant for weaving intricate plots and delving deep into the human psyche, Kubica has emerged as a formidable force in the realm of psychological thrillers. From her early works to her latest creations, Kubica has captivated readers with her distinctive narrative style and ability to keep them on the edge of their seats. Let us embark on a journey through the life and literary world of this enigmatic author.
Mary Kubica was born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago in Illinois, where her love for storytelling blossomed at a young age. Armed with an insatiable curiosity and a vivid imagination, Kubica embarked on a journey to explore the intricacies of human nature through her writing. After obtaining a degree in history from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Kubica pursued a career in education before eventually turning her focus to full-time writing.
Kubica burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel, "The Good Girl," which instantly catapulted her to international acclaim. Published in 2014, this gripping tale of abduction and redemption struck a chord with readers worldwide, earning Kubica a legion of dedicated fans and establishing her as a master of the psychological thriller genre.
Following the success of her debut, Kubica continued to enthrall audiences with a string of bestselling novels, including "Pretty Baby," "Don't You Cry," and "Every Last Lie." Each book showcased Kubica's unparalleled ability to craft compelling narratives infused with suspense, mystery, and intricate character dynamics.
One of the hallmarks of Kubica's writing is her ability to seamlessly blend suspenseful storytelling with richly drawn characters and thought-provoking themes. Her narratives often unfold through multiple perspectives, offering readers a multifaceted glimpse into the minds of her characters and the complexities of their lives. Kubica's prose is taut and atmospheric, evoking a sense of unease and tension that keeps readers eagerly turning the pages until the very end.
What readers love most about Kubica's work is its ability to immerse them in a world of intrigue and suspense, where nothing is as it seems and the truth lurks just beneath the surface. Her keen insight into the human psyche allows her to explore themes of identity, betrayal, and the darkness that resides within us all with depth and nuance. Kubica's novels have been praised for their gripping plots, well-drawn characters, and unexpected twists that leave readers breathless and craving more.
Throughout her career, Mary Kubica has garnered widespread recognition and numerous accolades for her contributions to the literary world. Her novels have been translated into multiple languages and optioned for film and television adaptations, further solidifying her status as a powerhouse in the thriller genre. Kubica's work has earned her a loyal following of readers and critics alike, who eagerly anticipate each new release with bated breath.
For those seeking a riveting literary experience that will keep them on the edge of their seats until the very last page, Mary Kubica's books are an absolute must-read. With their expertly crafted plots, nuanced characters, and spine-tingling suspense, Kubica's novels offer a thrilling escape into a world of mystery and intrigue. Whether you're a seasoned fan of the psychological thriller genre or a newcomer looking for a captivating read, Kubica's books are guaranteed to leave you spellbound.
As of the latest updates, Mary Kubica has just released her highly anticipated novel, "She's Not Sorry," in April. With her track record of delivering pulse-pounding suspense and unforgettable storytelling, "She's Not Sorry" promises to be another thrilling addition to Kubica's impressive body of work. Mary Kubica stands as a literary luminary whose work continues to captivate and enthrall audiences around the globe. With her razor-sharp prose, expertly crafted plots, and unparalleled ability to keep readers guessing until the very end, Kubica has earned her place among the pantheon of great thriller writers. For those in search of an exhilarating reading experience that will leave them breathless and craving more, Mary Kubica's novels are an absolute must-read.
Mary Kubica Best Quotes
“I know how betrayal and disillusionment feel, when someone who could give you the world refuses even a tiny piece of it.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“The goal with teenagers is simply getting through it alive, with no permanent damage.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“But he holds me so tightly that for a moment, the emotions are at bay. The sadness and fear, the regret and the loathing. He bottles them up inside his arms so that for a split second I don’t have to be the one carrying the weight of them. For this moment, the burden is his.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“The Chicago winter is harsh. But every now and then God blesses us with a thirty-or forty-degree day to remind us that misery comes and goes.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Teenagers believe they’re invincible—nothing bad can happen. It isn’t until later that we realize that bad things do, in fact, happen.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“We fall into oblivion this way, into a world where nothing matters. Nothing but us.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Momma used to say, “We don’t have much, but at least we have each other.” And then one day, we didn’t even have that much.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“That I love her. That I’m sorry.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I love the quietness of the library, the gateway to knowledge, to the French language and medieval history and hydraulic engineering and fairy tales, learning in a very primitive form: books, something that's quickly giving way to modern technology.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“Sometimes being scared makes you do things you didn't know you could do.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“But mostly I think of the things I didn’t do.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“But there was something telling about that photograph, I thought; our protective glass frame shattered and now here we were, punctured with microscopic holes that might one day tear. Those holes all had names: mortgage, adolescent child, lack of communication, retirement savings, cancer.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“His arms wrap around me from behind, and my heart rhythm slows to a steady jog. His chin rests on the top of my head, and my breath comes back to me, oxygen filling my lungs.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“As it was, being a bad mother was child’s play compared to being a good mother, which was an incessant struggle, a lose-lose situation 24 hours a day; long after the kids were in bed the torment of what I did or didn’t do during those hours we were trapped together would scourge my soul.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“She says that she used to enjoy, when darkness set in, when the outside world changed. She describes it for me: the way the streetlights and buildings twinkled in the night sky. She says that she liked the anonymity of it, and all the possibilities that developed when the sun went to sleep. But now the darkness terrifies her, all the nameless things on the other side of the silk drapes.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“A man who is willing to cheat on his wife, she said, will often make promises to you that he can’t keep. When he tells you he loves you, it’s a form of entrapment. Cheating spouses are masters at manipulation, she said. He may tell you things to keep you from ending the affair. He has both a wife and a lover on the side. He has no incentive to change.”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“She said something to you and you smiled and I thought to myself that I'd never seen anything so... I don't know... I'd never seen anything so beautiful in my life.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Beautiful doesn't do her justice.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I never noticed the whir of the ceiling fan, but the absence of it I do. The absence of it is deafening.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“She is beautiful. Magnetic, really, the kind of individual who draws people with her idiosyncratic hair and heterochromatic eyes.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“According to research, people who live with animals have decreased anxiety and lower blood pressure. They have lower cholesterol. They are more relaxed and less stressed and are, overall, in better health. Unless of course you have a dog who pees uncontrollably wherever it wishes or eats your furniture to shreds.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“She says that the sky was the color of persimmon and sangria, shades of red only God could make.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I've been following her for the last few days. I know where she buys her groceries where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I've never spoken to her. I wouldn't recognize the sound of her voice. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I watch the way her skin becomes red from the cold. The way her hair blows around in the breeze. She tucks it behind an ear, hoping to contain it, but it doesn't work. Not all things like to be contained.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“The ducks and geese fly overhead. Everyone is leaving me.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I don't tell her the way she makes me feel when she looks at me, or how I hear her voice at night, in my dreams, forgiving me. I don't tell her I'm sorry, though I am. I don't tell her that I think she's beautiful, even when I see her look in a mirror and hate the image she sees.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“What did you want?” she asks. What I wanted was a dad. Someone to take care of my mother and me, so I didn’t have to do it myself. But what I tell her is Atari.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“If time can turn something so undesired into something so loved, the same can happen to all of us. The same can happen to me.”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“The weathermen warn us for days of the impending snowstorm that's to arrive Thursday night. The grocery stores have run out of bottle water as people prepare to take shelter in their homes; my God, I think, it's winter, an annual certainty, not the atomic bomb.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“A common belief during labor is that a baby’s needs supersede that of the mother’s. Women don’t always know they have options. Or they aren’t given a choice in their care. If they are, they aren’t allowed ample time or information to come to a decision themselves. Choices are made without their consent. Too many women don’t want to be a burden and so they say nothing. The mistreatment is subtle, too, and falls under the guise of medical care.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“That’s not to say I didn’t think about you. I thought about you a lot when you were gone, though all I ever knew was the absence of you.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“My imagination is my worst enemy in this moment.”
― Mary Kubica, Just the Nicest Couple“Picasso, that’s abstract art. Kandinsky. Jackson Pollock.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I came to understand it wasn’t about the information itself but the exchange: a pact, a bond.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“They say time heals all wounds.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“I've always hoped that wherever you were and whatever you were doing, you were happy.”
― Mary Kubica, Every Last Lie“Beethoven wrote Für Elise around 1810, though Elise was actually supposed to be Therese, a woman he was to marry in the same year. Before”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“my”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“I step from a pair of sneakers and sink my bare feet into the sea, thinking of beach glass.
If time can turn something so undesired into something so love, the same can happen to all of us. The same can happen to me.”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“I was certainly not the best mother. That goes without saying. I didn’t set out to be a bad mother, however. It just happened. As it was, being a bad mother was child’s play compared to being a good mother, which was an incessant struggle, a lose-lose situation 24 hours a day; long after the kids were in bed the torment of what I did or didn’t do during those hours we were trapped together would scourge my soul. Why did I allow Grace to make Mia cry? Why did I snap at Mia to stop just to silence the noise? Why did I sneak to a quiet place, whenever I could? Why did I rush the days—will them to hurry by—so I could be alone? Other mothers took their children to museums, the gardens, the beach. I kept mine indoors, as much as I could, so we wouldn’t cause a scene. I lie awake at night wondering: what if I never have a chance to make it up to Mia? What if I’m never able to show her the kind of mother I always longed to be? The kind who played endless hours of hide-and-seek, who gossiped side by side on their daughters’ beds about which boys in the junior high were cute. I always envisioned a friendship between my daughters and me. I imagined shopping together and sharing secrets, rather than the formal, obligatory relationship that now exists between myself and Grace and Mia. I list in my head all the things that I would tell Mia if I could. That I chose the name Mia for my great-grandmother, Amelia, vetoing James’s alternative: Abigail. That the Christmas she turned four, James stayed up until 3:00 a.m. assembling the dollhouse of her dreams. That even though her memories of her father are filled with nothing but malaise, there were split seconds of goodness: James teaching her how to swim, James helping her prepare for a fourth-grade spelling test. That I mourn each and every time I turned down an extra book before bed, desperate now for just five more minutes of laughing at Harry the Dirty Dog. That I go to the bookstore and purchase a copy after unsuccessfully ransacking the basement for the one that used to be hers. That I sit on the floor of her old bedroom and read it again and again and again. That I love her. That I’m sorry. Colin”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“There was a time in my life when the eyes of men followed me. When men thought I was beautiful. When I passed through a room on the arm of James Dennett and every man and his covetous wife turned to stare. I feel the detective’s arms around me still, the reassurance and compassion, the warmth of his flesh. But now he stands feet away and I find myself staring at the floor. His hand comes to my chin. He lifts my face, forces me to see him. “Mrs. Dennett,” he says, and then he starts again, knowing I’m not quite looking. I can’t. I’m too ashamed to see what’s in his eyes. “Eve.” I look and there’s no anger, no scorn. “There isn’t anything in the world that I’d rather do. It’s just that...under the circumstances...” I nod. I know. “You’re an honorable man,” I say. “Or a good liar.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Having a best friend is a wonderful thing. There needs be no proofreading, no refinement, of the comments that come from my head.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“But if I wanted to atone, I would have bought her that sketch pad.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“I know the feel of dismissive eyes, eyes that look without really seeing a thing. I know the sound of contempt in a voice. I know how betrayal and disillusionment feel, when someone who could give you the world refuses even a tiny piece of it.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Happenstance, he called it. Everything happens for a reason,”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“I run my hand the length of her hair. My hands move down her arms. They memorize her fingers and the shape of her back. She stares at me with this look I've never seen before, not on her or any other woman. Trust. Respect. Desire. I commit to memory every freckle, every blemish on her face. I learn the shape of her ears and run a finger across the arch of her lips.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“There’s nothing worse than lying in bed, restless, worrying about things I can’t do anything about.”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“What is perfect is the way she looks at me, and the way she says my name. The way her hand strokes my hair, though I don't think she knows she's doing it. The way we lay together night after night. The way I feel: complete. What is perfect is the way she sometimes smiles and she sometimes laughs. The way we can say anything that comes to mind, or sit together for hours in absolute silence.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“As it was, it was the baby or me, and I chose me, a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my life.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“man who is willing to cheat on his wife, she said, will often make promises to you that he can’t keep. When he tells you he loves you, it’s a form of entrapment. Cheating spouses are masters at manipulation, she said. He may tell you things to keep you from ending the affair. He has both a wife and a lover on the side. He has no incentive to change. It”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“But I can assume he wasn’t hugged a whole lot. His family didn’t pray before dinner. They didn’t go camping or snuggle together on the couch for movie night. I can assume his father never helped him with his algebra homework. I can guess that at least once, someone forgot to pick him up from school. I can guess that at some point in his life, no one was paying attention to what he watched on TV. And I can guess that he’s been smacked across the face by someone who should’ve known better, someone he trusted. I flip through”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Admissions like this seem a lot easier in the dark, when you don’t have to see the pitying look on someone else’s face, a look that somehow makes you feel worse when it’s supposed to make you feel better.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“And so we stay and get soused in sadness. We get marinated in it and submerged. We let the sadness steep into every inlet of our beings, making us tender and weak.”
― Mary Kubica, Every Last Lie“I wanted to see if you were okay," he says, and I curtly answer, "I'm fine," while wiping the tears from my eyes.”
― Mary Kubica, Every Last Lie“There's so much hope in his eyes, hope and desperation, a toxic combination, it seems --- so much to gain, so much to lose.”
― Mary Kubica, Every Last Lie“It must be thirty-eight, thirty-nine degrees, when we head out for our walk, the kind of day that teenagers foolishly rush out in shorts and t-shirts, forgetting that in October we were aghast at temperatures like this.”
― Mary Kubica, The Next Page: A Fiction Sampler for Book Clubs: The Good Girl\The Wonder of All Things\Little Mercies\Madame Picasso\The Returned\The Last Breath“I'm trapped inside a funhouse whereby everything is skewed, and my center of gravity is thrown off by centrifugal force.”
― Mary Kubica, Every Last Lie“Or the fact that the rest of the world has moved on, while I'm stuck in a life of stagnancy.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“The scar I’ve still got, but the memory of it is gone.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“You have no idea,” she says, her tone chilling. “You have no fucking clue what it was like to hear her cry in the middle of the night. Pain so bad at times that she couldn’t help but scream. She’d get all excited about some new doctor, some new treatment, only for it to fucking fail again, her hopes dashed. It was hopeless. She wasn’t getting any better. She was never going to get any better. No one should have to live like that.”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“I didn't set out to be a bad mother, however. It just happened. As it was, being a bad mother was child's play compared to being a good mother, which was an incessant struggle, a lose-lose situation 24 hours a day; long after the kids were in bed the torment of what I did or didn't do during those hours we were trapped together would scourge my soul.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“street just outside his Crown Victoria, leaned up against the passenger’s side door. In his hands are coffee and a cinnamon roll, just a stone’s throw away from the stereotypical doughnut cops are notorious for eating, though slightly more refined. As he waves at me, I get the sense that he’s been watching me the entire time, watching as I watch Otto leave. He tips his hat at me. I wave at him through the car window. What I usually do at this point in”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“Now he was all grown up, working in the Financial”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“She’s disoriented, her visions cluttered, random memories running adrift in her mind.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Rather, she lives in the place of light sleep, where the variance between sleep and awake is often blurred.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“The truth sometimes lies in what we don’t say, rather than what we say.”
― Mary Kubica, Just the Nicest Couple“The way the psychiatrist explained it to me,” Dad says, “being isolated in the dark for as long as your sister was drives people to the brink of insanity. It impairs their sense of time, their sleep cycles. Without being able to see, they suffer sensory deprivation.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“Being unbiased is important. Every woman is not me.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“Because that’s the way it is with relationships sometimes. They ebb and they flow.”
― Mary Kubica, The Other Mrs.“My mind considers for one split second a world without Esther, and it makes me feel sad.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“Little does she know it, but she occupies ever spare moment of my time.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“my very own knight in shining armor (he just doesn't know it yet)”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“I was enraptured by this handsome man I'd met in a restaurant in the city, this alluring man who made me feel like I walked on air. Now he's gone and all that remains in the space between us are hurt feelings and despicable words.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“He is the best!!! says one review, with an overkill of exclamation points that makes me question the reviewer’s mental health and state of mind.”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“Every day is like New Year’s Eve and waiting for the ball to drop. Except that when the ball does drop, we won’t be celebrating.”
― Mary Kubica, Just the Nicest Couple“I still can’t walk by our old babysitter’s house without feeling the need to dry heave, even though last I heard she and her husband don’t live there anymore.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“inveigling”
― Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry“an artist. My mother’s deluded sense of reality.” What pisses me off is that she talks like she got the short end of the stick. Like her life is full of hard knocks. She doesn’t have a fucking clue what tough luck is like. I think of the mint-green trailer home, of sitting out a storm in a makeshift shelter while we watched our home blow over. “I’m supposed to feel sorry for you?” I ask. A bird begins to warble. In the distance, another returns its call. Her voice is quiet. “I never asked you to feel sorry for me. You asked a question. I gave you an answer,” she confides. “You’re just full of self-pity, aren’t you?” “It isn’t like that.” “Always the victim.” I’m unsympathetic. This girl doesn’t know a damn thing about tough luck. “No,” she hisses at me. She thrusts the fishing rod into my hands. “Take it,” she says. She unzips”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“catch her sometimes,”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“carte blanche.”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“Mi intuición, sin embargo, me dice que algo le ha sucedido a mi hija. Algo malo.”
― Mary Kubica, Una buena chica“cynical,”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“It’s not what the world holds for you. It’s what you bring to it,” she nearly whispers, and I find myself staring, dumbly, until she says, “Anne of Green Gables.”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“I wonder if she could ever this right. This scene. In her sketch pad. The shape of the blue lake and the leaves spilled across the ground. The forest-green pine and evergreen trees. The enormous sky. Could she ever get the wind whipping through the remains of trees? Could she draw the cold air that eats at our hands and ears until they burn?”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Having a best friend is a wonderful thing. There needs be no proofreading, no refinement, of the comments that come from my head. “What”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“But he holds me so tightly that for a moment, the emotions are at bay. The sadness and fear, the regret and the loathing. He bottles them up inside his arms so that for a split second I don't have to be the one carrying the weight of them. For this moment, the burden is his.”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“convenient store”
― Mary Kubica, The Good Girl“Meredith”
― Mary Kubica, Local Woman Missing“Did you know sea otters hold hands when sleeping so they never, ever drift apart?”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby“How much can you really know about another person?”
― Mary Kubica, Pretty Baby