“The light is heart-breaking.”

“Was this love? Because it hurt. It was like a bit of glass stuck somewhere important--his heart or his head, and it was throbbing.”

“There's a terrible stillness. I notice a small tear in the wallpaper above her shoulder. I notice finger marks grimed on the light switch. Somewhere down in the house, a door opens and shuts. As Zoey turns to face me, I realize that life is made up of a series of moments, each one a journey to the end.”

“Adam strokes my head, my face, he kisses my tears. We are blessed.Let them all go.The sound of a bird flying low across the garden. Then nothing. Nothing. A cloud passes. Nothing again. Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me. Moments.All gathering towards this one.”

“I love you. I love you. I send this message through my fingers and into his, up his arm and into his heart. Hear me. I love you. And I'm sorry to leave you.”

“He falls asleep quickly. I lie awake and listen to lights being switched off all over the town. Whisperedgoodnights. The drowsy creak of bedsprings.I find Adam’s hand and hold it tight.I’m glad that night porters and nurses and long-distance lorry drivers exist. It comforts me to know thatin other countries with different time zones, women are washing clothes in rivers and children are filing toschool. Somewhere in the world right now, a boy is listening to the merry chink of a goat’s bell as hewalks up a mountain. I’m very glad about that.”

“If you want a girl to like you, you have to listen like a woman and love like a man.”