“ I feel as if I’m waiting for something dreadful to happen, and then I realize it already has. Kate Atkinson
“ Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested. Eva Kate Atkinson
“ As you got older and time went on, you realized that the distinction between truth and fiction didn’t really matter because eventually everything disappeared into the soupy, amnesiac mess of history.… Kate Atkinson
“ Afterwards—because it turned out that there was to be an afterwards for Teddy—he resolved that he would try always to be kind. It was the best he could do. It was all that he could do. And it might be… Kate Atkinson
“ A boy grows and marries and leaves. He belongs to another woman, but a girl always belongs to her mother. Kate Atkinson
“ He said that when the baby was born, if it was a boy, I was to call it Edward.Edward? Teddy repeated blankly.After you.And for the first time in the whole of the war Teddy broke. Kate Atkinson
“ But how could you spoil a child—by neglect, yes, but not by love. You had to give them all the love you could, even though giving that much love could cause you pain and anguish and horror and, in the… Kate Atkinson
“ We could buy a sewing machine and share it, Charlene said. We could buy cloth and spools of thread and paper patterns and spend pleasant winter evenings dressmaking together. Perhaps by the soft light… Kate Atkinson
“ Time was a thief and Jackson felt he gained a small triumph by stealing back some of the early hours Kate Atkinson
“ They had been too taken up with each other, grasshoppers enjoying the summer, rather than ants preparing for the winter. Kate Atkinson
“ The room stank of boys. Louise imagined a girl’s room would smell of nail varnish, pencils, cheap candy sweets. Archie’s room was essence of testosterone and feet. Kate Atkinson
“ Novels gave you a completely false idea about life, they told lies and they implied there were endings when in reality there were no endings, everything just went on and on and on. Kate Atkinson
“ It wasn't that [he] believed in religion, or a God, or an afterlife. He just knew it was impossible to feel this much love and for it to end. Kate Atkinson
“ I'm a shadow of my former self, she announces. Vinny was a shadow to begin with, now she's a shadow of a shadow. Kate Atkinson
“ I like this dog, he said, rubbing the dog’s head. He’s a very straightforward kind of dog. Kate Atkinson
“ I don't think I'd mind working on a cheese counter. It would leave my mind free to do whatever it wanted - which is nothing in particular, it's true, but I like being alone in my head, I'm used to it. Kate Atkinson
“ Her soft soul had crystallized. (Just as well, she thought.) She was a sword tempered in the fire. Kate Atkinson
“ Doing nothing was much more productive than people thought; Jackson often had his most profound insights when he appeared to be entirely idle. He didn't get bored, he just went into a nothing kind of… Kate Atkinson
