Quotes from Lisa Jewell

She had imagined her to be bohemian, arty, shabby chic. But this school did not speak of bohemia or shabby chic, it spoke of poverty, and for the first time it occurred to Rachel that maybe Lucy was poor.

Yes, tell us about Bryn." They'd said his name as if it were in italics, as if he were a character in a book.

Such a shit, her big brother. He hid it with a mischievous veneer of dark humour, but she sometimes suspected that the darkness ran much deeper.

last night. As far as I know.' Meg groaned. 'You're all fucking useless

intense universe which once existed within these four walls has come to an end: children flown, the noise and chaos of a family unit truncated down to two middle-aged people in a flat somewhere, existing quietly in the spaces between visits and phone calls.

She does not want symmetry. She wants nooks and crannies and funny little alcoves and unexpected passages leading to rooms that don't make sense.

think we're almost there," she said. "Think yellow," she added with an exaggerated wink. The boys let

Business-class travel. If you haven't done it, then you can only imagine it. And once you have done it, you can never unimagine it – you are ruined for life. It is probably the single greatest reason to be wealthy that there is.

Now that he was basically bankrolling her, the conversations made her feel inadequate and edgy.

Zach said, "I love you, Lula, I love you so much," she didn't stop for even a second before replying that she loved him too. Because right then, for that moment in time, she really did.

Lucy is still baffled by English schools. In France the teachers want nothing to do with the parents; they'd rather children didn't actually have any parents, she'd sometimes thought. Here the parents virtually live at the school: reading sessions in the classroom, special assemblies for parents to attend, cake sales every five minutes it sometimes seems.

She has a ten-year-old son and a face like a sincere apology for something that really isn't her fault.

In some ways, yes,' she replies. 'When you are a parent, not being able to feed your child is just about the worst, most soul-destroying thing imaginable. And now I can feed you. I can clothe you. I can give you warm beds to sleep in—' 'But they're not our beds.

We were all too young. Did you know that the parts of the brain involved in decision-making aren't fully developed until you're twenty-five years old?

And now, here, on this Chicago street, Marco discovers that his life is about to change yet again and it feels once more like a thing that teeters helplessly on a tightrope over a crevasse.

for Michael but found herself picking up her glass and taking a large slug, her psyche telling her to pour something numbing over the hot ashes of jealousy smouldering inside her.

I know. I know. But still. When I think of how he treated you. How bad he made you feel. How he lied to you about everything. And now he's out and about, gallivanting with another woman. It just sickens me, Rachel. It really sickens me.

being a grown-up is not about getting married, about smart flats and reading groups; it's about taking responsibility for your own actions and the consequences of those actions.

Had Simpering Rachel who clutched men's arms at parties in order to repel a competitor for his attentions been there all along? How awful, she thought to herself. How absolutely awful.

He's not sure. Just weird addresses, kind of storage units in back streets in Algeria, storage units in industrial estates in Belfast. Jonno did Google Map Street View

the only way to really know what was going on in the world was to listen to women talk. Anyone who ignores the chatter of women is poorer by any

All men are weak," said Phin. "That's the whole bloody trouble with the world. Too weak to love properly. Too weak to be wrong.

statement. I immediately knew it to be the truest thing I'd ever heard. The weakness of men lay at the root of every bad thing that had ever happened.

It hadn't mattered then. It hadn't mattered to either of them. Because they were in love. And ugly flats look pretty when you're in love.