Quotes from Jenny Colgan

Um . . . well, I see most of the people I want to see. And I don't really see the point of it otherwise, unless you want to show off and all that." "That," said Kim-Ange, "is annoyingly sensible. And misses out on the joy of showing off.

Everywhere in Edinburgh is uphill. This doesn't seem like it can possibly be true, but it is.

Oh and I also got cross at a dinner once when this woman was going on and on about how she would never read on download, that there was nothing like a real book and – I promise I normally am never rude to people but she was being truly insufferable – I said, 'Well, they're really only for people who read a lot' which was mean of me but quite satisfying also.

you really have never heard of me, have you?" "I totally almost have," protested Carmen.

The view from up here is different,' said Robert Carrier, extending his wing. 'When you look at things the same way you've always done, nothing changes.

But all those years . . . all those years, she told herself, got you where you are now. All those years were necessary. If you were just happy from the day you were born, how would you ever know? How would you appreciate how good life could be if it had never been crap?

It was definitely something beginning with "C." Crappy, cloudy, and cluttered? Cheap, cheery, and crud? Carmen frowned. "Clean! Clear! Curated!" said Mrs. Marsh, after waiting on a pause.

Most problems, when it came down to it, could pretty much be cured, or at least helped, by curling up on the sofa with an omelette, watching something with zombies in it.

Everyone's different from how they look on the outside

Everything was a tempest in grey and steely blue, the line of the horizon merely a suggestion.

don't know why they say love means never having to say you're sorry," said Polly suddenly. "I think it means having to say you're sorry A LOT.

But when you read a book, you feel like you're in it.

People get up every day and walk about with smiles on their faces who have been through things you and I could never imagine.

Actually," began Nina, feeling timid and trying to force herself to speak a little louder. This was her life now; she was going to have to own it, even though she felt as you often do when you've had to do absolutely everything by yourself: rather like a grumpy child. She took a breath. "Actually, I'm going to run a mobile bookshop. Go around to the towns where they don't have one, like here.

could happen two or three times a week – the sun would appear, simply to confound and delight you, breaking across the wet dawn dew, popping its head up over the purple mountains ahead, and once again you would forgive Scotland all its wet mornings and dark evenings for the utter glory of how perfect a perfect day could be.

How very strange that someone she had met so briefly, under such extraordinary circumstances, should turn out to be able to pinpoint exactly what she was feeling, and how. Or, rather, take what she was feeling and make her feel so very much better about it.

Up on the Rooftops

It had never occurred to her that other mothers, whatever their situations, might be feeling exactly the same way.

It felt sticky, which was good—the stickier the dough, the lighter the bread

read. Because every day with a book is slightly better than one without, and I wish you nothing but the happiest of days.

Each member of the family shipwrecked on their own island of grief.

found herself thinking how useful that would be, to have an automatic comforting device. The dog looked nice.

We are two survivors clinging to a life raft.

She realized suddenly that despite all the new exciting feelings - of autonomy of freedom - that she'd felt since she arrived, she'd been missing the simple familiarity that came with ... well, someone you understood, she supposed.