Quotes from Sally Beauman

distinguished scholars and

There is only one true legitimacy, and it's bestowed by love, not male lineage.

Women are the gossips, the seers, the story-tellers. One of these days I'll tell him: pay attention, Tom dear, because it's women who are the keepers of secrets.

That's what the British do, you know. They accommodate, and then they assimilate. It's very effective. It's their way of disarming the opposition, and it works.

The sun glinted on Max's buttons and buckles; his boots shone like chestnuts. A revolver in a holster. Brown eyes and a handsome face. The son and heir. The sun and air. I look at him, and I thought, Aha!