Quotes from Faith Martin

conviviality

hors de combat

shop me to the bursar.

nebulous misgivings

Jenny flashed him her clearest 'on your bike, sonny' smile and indicated the steps.

His gaze was clear and openly salacious, and in a way, she found his uncomplicated sexual invitation entertaining rather than insulting.

If she'd been the type to want an uncomplicated, one-off bout of recreational sex, she had to acknowledge that she probably couldn't do any better.

And if selfishness and a lack of sexual discernment was to be judged a good enough reason to murder someone, then the death rate would surely sky-rocket.

Jenny beamed at him. She liked to see a man eat. Well, she liked to see anybody eat.

In my experience, men or women who kill out of "hopeless love" suffer from low self-esteem and all that malarkey.

There was just no helping some people, she acknowledged to herself sadly. In fact, she thought, with a spurt of resentment, some people could be just downright unreasonable.

But the old are more resilient than you think. They get used to bad indigestion, putting up with arthritis, gout, gammy legs, bad backs, you name it. They almost expect to hurt.

solicitously

Or, worse, excess fat.

they knew more than he thought they possibly could? Not that he could see how. As far as he was aware, nobody knew how much he had hated Iris Carmody – or why. But if they were to find out … Would he be arrested? And if he was, how could he possibly defend himself?

fighting a losing battle was pointless, and it was far better to keep your powder dry for the battles you could win.

continued staring

make of a house like this. Would Barbara

Aware that she was being less than tactful, she stopped talking. 'Oh dear,' she said. They really were still in the dark.

There's bound to be a job for a good cook somewhere. There aren't that many of us about, you know,' she informed them seriously.

and stepped inside, and instantly felt the damp and cold

who want to run as MPs?' Janine said, clarifying her shorthand. 'And the current MP for this area suddenly announced that he is retiring next year, and

Maybe it never got easier for the families concerned. Perhaps they just got slowly more and more used to it until, one day, they were able to wake up and could simply ignore the pain and loss for whole hours at a time.

galloping gut-rot.