Lesley Lokko

“Nobody told me love was warm. Such warmth - I seemed to remember it, it seemed like something forgotten by me since I was born. All the fires are here, and the warmth of my mother’s bed long ago and the deep heat of the sun.”

“The glow of delicioous tension coudn't be faked, not at any price. So when you leave, that's when you realise you've been living in a lie.”

“You have to find yourself. When you meet him again, you have to know who you are. He's finding out who he is.”

“He wasn't there to save her. She must know how to save herself.”

“How could you teach someone to survive? You pointed them in the right direction and hoped they'd swim, not sink. Waving, not drowning. There are more important things in life than individual happiness. It was an easy trap to fall into, mistaking a lack of self-direction for an expression of love.”

“Guilt, Ameline discovered, was a terrible, unruly think, like toothache - dull nagging, persistent, never far from attention. Just when you got used to its rumbling, ruminating presence, it would lash out, stike you down, stio you dead in your tracks. The worst thing was, it was entirely unpredicatable.”

“She would love it. Just as he loved her. He paused for a second, his fingers touching the door handle. He was in love. The realisation came to him quite suddenly.”

“It wasn't sealed - she opened the flap. Inside was a cheque for a thousand dollars. Made out to her. From Daniel. It was a colossal slap in the face.”