“Nicholas this is one of those 'yes' or 'no' questions again. You seem to have a problem with those. Did you or did you not kill a woman - Jo”

“It occurred to me that there have always been selkie women: women who did not seem to belong to this world, because they did not fit into prevailing notions of what women were supposed to be. And if you did not fit into those notions, in some sense you weren't a woman. Weren't even quite human. The magical animal woman is, or can be, a metaphor for those sorts of women.”

“Did you know that if Barbie was a real woman with those proportions, she'd have to carry her kidneys in her purse?”

“Lord Nicholas St. John was their only hope, and she had been on the roof when he arrived, for heaven's sake. Ladies did not go traipsing about on rooftops.And certainly gentlemen did not frequent the homes of those ladies who did traipse about on roortops. It did not matter if the rooftop in question was in dire need of repair.Or that the lady in question had no choice.”

“A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.”

“Did thetwo of you marry again? Please tell me yes. If he is my brother-in-law again, he is less likelyto kill me for what I did.”Bryony looked at her a moment, then leaned in and whispered in her ear. “He won’t killyou. He just wants you committed to an asylum.”