“ There were doorways between this world and the next, she said, but only certain people could pass through them. Kate Atkinson
“ The whole edifice of civilization turned out to be constructed from an unstable mix of quicksand and imagination. Kate Atkinson
“ Terri would have made the perfect wife for Bob – they could have simply slept their way through married life. Rip van Winkle and Duchess Anaesthesia, the lost, sleepy daughter of the Romanovs. Kate Atkinson
“ Sylvie's children really only came into focus for her when in isolation. Together, they were an unwieldy flock, singly they had character. Kate Atkinson
“ Sylvie considered that children should be toughened up early, the better to take the blows in later life. Kate Atkinson
“ Sylvia loved secrets and even if she didn't have any secrets she made sure that you thought she did. Amelia had no secrets, Amelia knew nothing. When she grew up she planned to know everything and to… Kate Atkinson
“ Sometimes Teddy wondered if everyone had done well out of the war except for those who had fought in it. Kate Atkinson
“ Sometimes Jackson thought that the past wasn’t just another country, it was a lost continent somewhere at the bottom of an unknown ocean. Kate Atkinson
“ So, what do they pay you for...exactly?Slapped around. Tied up. Beaten. Given orders, made to do things.What kind of things?You know.No, I can't even begin to imagine.Lick my boots, crawl on floor, ea… Kate Atkinson
“ Slattern! What a wonderful new word. 'Slattern,' I murmur appreciatively to Patricia.'Yes, slattern,' Bunty says firmly. 'That's what she is.''Not a slut like you then?' Patricia says very quietly. Lo… Kate Atkinson
“ She was flawed, no longer intact. On the other hand, she felt as if she had been scourged clean. The past no longer weighed so heavily on the present. Kate Atkinson
“ She opened her arms to the black bat and they flew to each other, embracing in the air like long-lost souls. This is love, Ursula thought. And the practice of it makes it perfect. Kate Atkinson
“ She had taken an almost instant dislike to him over a dinner at Nopi which, when the bill arrived, he had been more than happy to go Dutch on, thereby failing one of her first requirements of a suitor… Kate Atkinson
“ She had been here before. She had never been here before. There was always something just out of sight, just around a corner, something she could never chase down—something that was chasing her down. Kate Atkinson
“ She doesn't believe in dogs, Bridget said. Dogs are hardly an article of faith, Sylvie said. Kate Atkinson
“ Seven million German dead, including the five hundred thousand killed by the Allied bombing campaign. The sixty million dead overall of the Second World War, including eleven million murdered in the H… Kate Atkinson
“ Patricia embraces me on the station platform. 'The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,' she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. 'Nonsense, Patricia,' I tell her as I climb on board my… Kate Atkinson
“ One of the remarkable things about Life After Life is the way that this formal experimentation is combined with a consistently involving plot. It is as if the writing of B. S. Johnson had been crossed… Kate Atkinson
“ One could lose everything in the blink of an eye, the slip of a foot. One must avoid dark thoughts at all costs. Kate Atkinson
