Quotes from Kathryn Hughes

calipers. Mary had never had the heart to

that's what he said.

sometimes we must accept what we can and cannot do.

Chrissie lowered her voice so that he struggled to

Love should be the final goal of a marriage, not a prerequisite.

Donde una puerta se cierra, otra se abre. 'Where a door is closed, another is opened.' – From Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

We can't cherry-pick the parts of our story we'd like to keep. Our lives are a melting pot of regrets, triumphs, sorrow and joy. You have to accept it all.

He had the terrible feeling that he had just lost something very precious. Something he had never owned but that nevertheless should have belonged to him.

Be grateful for the time you did have instead of regretful for the time you didn't,' I say.

They're just weeds, love, they don't belong anywhere.' Her granddaughter stuck out her bottom lip and furrowed her brow. 'That doesn't seem very nice. Everything belongs somewhere.

It was the small things she took pleasure in. The faint hum of a huge furry bumble bee busily flitting from one flower to another, oblivious to the fact that it was completing a task on which the entire human race depended.

but the sudden stark reality that things were never going to be the same again.

given a new name, chosen by the nuns, a more

Random acts of kindness were certainly scarce in this place and sometimes came from the most unexpected source.

It was painful to remember him, but the thought of forgetting him was even worse.

No matter how much I know he's hurt me, it's still difficult just to switch off my feelings for him. It would be easier to hate him, but I can't.

That's the trouble. We can't cherry-pick the parts of our story we'd like to keep. Our lives are a melting pot of regrets, triumphs, sorrow and joy. You have to accept it all.

She pined for Rick and the brief but happy life they had once shared, before his drinking had ruined everything.

As she voiced all this out loud for the first time, she found a long-buried inner strength, and with it a conviction that her sanity and indeed her very survival depended on her walking away.

I'm just pulling up these weeds.' 'Why?' She thought about this for a second. 'Well, they don't belong here.' 'Oh. Where do they belong, then?' 'They're just weeds, love, they don't belong anywhere.' Her granddaughter stuck out her bottom lip and furrowed her brow. 'That doesn't seem very nice. Everything belongs somewhere.

Why does this keep happening to me? Everybody I care about leaves me.

Never say no to a cup of tea and never pass up the chance to use the toilet was her sage advice.

The little girl's eyes were squeezed tightly shut and she bore the angry expression unique to babies who had just been wrenched from the sanctuary of warmth and nourishment where they had spent the previous nine blissful months.

that regret, the anger – well, it's like holding your breath. It ends up suffocating you. I had to let it go.