The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin follows the story of Essun, a woman devastated by grief and loss. After her husband killed her son and left with her daughter, she is left to traverse the continent known as the Stillness for the wreckage of her family. Trouble comes when the once-mighty empire known as Sanze collapses and a red rift splits the land in half. Ash covers all sunlight and stains the water, and with the breakdown of one empire comes an impending war for the next. But Essun doesn’t care about that. For her daughter, she’ll shatter the world herself.

Haymich made a promise to his love that he would stop the sunrise on the Reaping and he lived through 25 more years of bloodshed before his chance came. He lost everyone he ever cared about and sent children to their deaths every single year. How did he go on? He went on because he believed that a world without systematic mistreatment was possible. A favorite proverb of mine is ‘we do not inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.’ Lenore Dove made Haymitch promise that he would see the end of Snow’s reign in his lifetime. Do you think he was as terrified as I am about what comes afterwards? It’s easy to tear things apart, but how do you rebuild in a world where people have been pit against one another for decades? I think it comes down to humility; we are all fighting our way out of the same darkness and we will always have more in common than we do apart. My mother always told me that the world isn’t willing to give things to you; you have to go out and take them. Our chance may be coming soon and I hope I have the courage to stand behind my ideals. And, if now isn’t the time, I want to make sure that the next generation can continue the fight.

“The snow may fall, but the sun also rises”

Nicole Diver is one of the main characters of Tender is the Night. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a traumatic experience involving her father in childhood. After this, she began to have outbursts about the maliciousness of males (which, in this political climate, isn’t exactly much of a stretch). Another character in the novel, Rosemary, confesses her feelings to Dick Diver. Instead of taking her at her word, Dick instantly dismisses her experience and reshapes it to fit a simpler, less 'complicated' narrative. While this book was set in the Jazz Age, it was almost jarring to see the same struggles women experience even a century later. We are still accused of “not knowing” or of “overreacting,” just maybe in a subtler way.