“A lesser moustache, under the impact of that quick, agonised expulsion of breath, would have worked loose at the roots.”

“If only-if only, Hastings, you would part your hair in the middle instead of at the side! What a difference it would make to the symmetry of your appearance. And your moustache. If you must have a moustache, let it be a real moustache-a thing of beauty such as mine.”

“Allegra's Austen wrote about the impact of financial need on the intimate lives of women. If she'd worked in a bookstore, Allegra would have shelved Austen in the horror section.”

“Until I feared I would loose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”

“The girl would grow up marked by tragedy and, when she was twenty, would use her own suffering to help alleviate that of others. She would eventually do work of such vital importance that it would have an impact all over the world.”

“My mother made a sound that from a lesser woman would have been a snort.”