“Truth, as he always said, was overrated, nobody ever won prizes for telling the truth.”

“I was never in any danger," she said calmly. "Nothing can ever hurt me. Nothing can take me from me.”

“Shut up, Arthur,' said my mother, and he zipped his mouth shut like an infuriating child.Ginger started to laugh. Not at anything in particular, but just because Ginger was stoned.”

“... shunning all offers of help, all offers of the more practical... This was his task, he said, and it would be carried out alone. Penance, my brother reminded me, was a lonely place to be.”

“You said I could be anything I wanted when I was older', I said.She smiled and said, 'And you can be. But it's not very easy to become Jewish.''I know,' I said forlornly, 'I need a number.'And she suddenly stopped smiling.”

“Don't worry. It'll all come good in the end. Always does.”

“[My mum] was always like that: grateful for life itself. Her glass was not only half full, it was gold plated with a permanent refill.”