She found herself longing for home-not just for the hotel but for New York and all the real novels that she could lose herself in there.

Henry shook his head, 'I was drunk,' he said, trying to sound both ashamed and firm in this belief. He remembered the rosebush incident very clearly, of course, but he knew that sneaking into the bedroom window of his fiancee's little sister wasn't something he wanted to explain to his father. Sometimes, Henry reflected, being taken for a perpetual drunk was sort of convenient.

She had had no idea what it would do to her seeing him in a suit.

But in that moment she realized how false most smiles were and what a tremendous waste of time.

Don't go looking for boys in the dark They will say pretty things then leave you with scars. Do go looking for boys in the park For that is where the true gentlemen are.

A young lady's most natural ally is her sister although sometimes our own relatives are as inscrutable to us as an antipodean.

We see our sins reflected everywhere: in the pallor of our intimates’ faces, in the scratching of tree branches against windows, in the strange movements of everyday objects. These may be messages from God or tricks of the eye, but in neither case are we permitted to ignore them.