“You shaped yourself around his absence the way a tree grows around a gap in the light.”

— Nikita Datar

“The father wound shows up in your relationship with authority. With money. With your own right to take up space.”

— Nikita Datar

“You are still working to earn an approval he may never have been capable of giving. You can stop now.”

— Nikita Datar

“A daughter without a safe father does not know how to be safe with men. This is not a flaw. It is a wound.”

— Nikita Datar