“I need to remember what they look like. I try to hold them still behind my eyes, their faces, like pictures in an album. But they won't stay still for me, they move, there's a smile and it's gone, their features curl and bend as if the paper's burning, blackness eats them. A glimpse, a pale shimmer on the air; a glow, aurora, dance of electrons, then a face again, faces. But they fade, though I stretch out my arms towards them, they slip away from me, ghosts at daybreak. Back to wherever they are. Stay with me, I want to say. But they won't.”

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About Margaret Atwood

Canadian novelist and poet of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, she is best known for her dystopian fiction, particularly *The Handmaid’s Tale*, which explores themes of oppression, resistance, and the fragility of power. Her work also spans speculative fiction, literary criticism, and environmental commentary, often blending sharp social observation with poetic precision.

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"I need to remember what they look like. I try to hold them still behi…" — Margaret Atwood | Daily Quotes