Quotes from Eva Ibbotson

As he clambered back and picked up the paddle, he was still muttering furiously in his own language and glaring at her. Without deciphering a single word, she knew he was scolding her for her carelessness, trying to explain that one had to be alert the whole time in the jungle. " Idiota! " he said finally, and though Senhor and Senhora Olvidares in the phrase book had not used the word, Maia understood it well enough.

Arnold Schönberg, the inventor of atonal music, gave concerts which might not be comprehensible but were obviously important.

To this waltz, born in a distant, snowbound country out of longing for just such a flower-scented summer night as this, Rupert and Anna dance. They were under no illusions. The glittering chandeliers, the gold mirrors with their draped acanthus leaves, the plangent violins might be the stuff of romance, but this was no romance. It was a moment in a lifeboat before it sank beneath the waves; a walk across the sunlit courtyard towards the firing squad. This waltz was all they had.

It is for England that one marries,' she said. 'For the land.

I think I ought to cut my hair off," said Maia, one morning, as she tore yet another tooth out of Finn's comb. "No. That's a bad idea." Maia looked up, surprised. "But you wanted Clovis to cut his hair." "That was different.

Though there were so many unusual creatures on the Island, the royal family was entirely human and always had been. They were royal in the proper sense – not greedy, not covered in jewels, but brave and fair. They saw themselves as servants of the people which is how all good rulers should think of themselves, but often don't.

What are you afraid of then?" "Not being able to see, I think, [...] not seeing because you're obsessed by something that blots out the world. Some sort of mania or belief. Or passion. That awful kind of love that makes leaves and birds and cherry blossom invisible because it's not the face on some man.

Then the little Brazilian maid brought in their supper, which was the same as lunch and the same as breakfast--brown beans stewed with pigs' trotters. Mr. Low dug about in it gloomily, looking for bits of gristle, and Mr. Trapwood found a dead ant on his plate. It seemed to be a perfectly clean ant, but he gagged and pushed his plate away. "This place is closer to hell on earth than anywhere I've been," he said.

We could go back to England for a visit. I'm sure Lady Parsons would be pleased to have us to stay." Mr. Carter did not answer. For one thing, he never spoke to his wife if he could help it, and for another, the last thing he wanted was to go back to England.

Bernard did not mind the rats in the cellars and he did not mind the horses. He minded the people on the horses.

There's people who make their living with animals," she said. "Naturalists they're called. You could be one of them." "From then on my father knew what he wanted to do," said Finn. "He wanted to get as far away from his family as it was possible to go, and live with animals." When you know what you want you usually get it.

Then a month after Bernard's sixteenth birthday, Sir Aubrey came down to breakfast, and so did Dudley and so did Joan. They helped themselves to kedgeree and scrambled eggs and kidneys and bacon. Then Sir Aubrey rang for the footman to bring fresh coffee and said, "Where's Bernard? The wretched boy is late again." But Bernard wasn't late--he was gone, and nobody from Westwood ever set eyes on him again.

Muriel sprinkled salt over her haddock mousse. 'It is not easy to be specific, but both morally and hygienically there is . . . a kind of laxness which I had not expected.' Dr Lightbody leant forward. The discussion of hygienic and moral laxness with a beautiful woman in a softly shaded restaurant was exactly to his taste.

They turned into the Agarapi and soon afterward saw a great snake, endlessly long, rustling through the leaves and dropping down into the dark water. "An anaconda," said the professor. "Is it dangerous?" asked Miss Minton. "Not to us," said the professor. "It's a good omen--the God of the Water making himself known.

As they opened the door, Maia heard Mrs. Carter's voice raised loudly in the corridor. "Just remember this, Miss Minton: I shall always know. Always. " The twins looked at each other and giggled. "She's warning her not to remove her corset," they whispered. "Some of the other governesses tried to do it, but Mama can always tell!

He meant that the dead must be allowed to move about freely inside us, they musn't be encapsulated, made finite by their prejudices

it had been no hardship to grow up in his brother's shadow. Shadows are cool and peaceful places for those whose minds are overstocked with treasure.

Gardeners are never wicked are they?' said Ruth. 'Obstinate and grumpy and wanting to be alone, but not wicked. Oh, look at that creeper! I've always loved October so much, haven't you? I can see why it's called the Month of the Angels.

There was a pause. Then: "And you've got me," said Finn. Maia lifted her head and smiled at him. For a moment she felt completely happy. Then she looked at Finn's hand resting on the tiller. "But you're going away." "Yes," he said. "That's true. I'm going away.

Clovis had been listening to Finn with a very worried face. "But that's a sort of curse. Maia shouldn't live in a house that's been cursed." "I know. But nobody has cursed Maia--nobody in the world would do that. And Furo and the others have promised to look after her. They absolutely promised." "And you're not going to tell Maia?" "No. Definitely not. She's got enough to put up with with those awful twins.