There is nothing more guaranteed to reduce a man to the essentials than to live beneath the sky.

The sun burnt on, drugging everything with warmth.

There are many things in this life capable of throwing people off course - the death of someone close, the loss of income or health, the realisation that cherished hopes cannot always be fulfilled

Emotions weren't like washing. There was no call to peg them out for all the world to view.

The older one becomes the quicker the present fades into sepia and the past looms up in glorious technicolour

Being constantly with children was like wearing a pair of shoes that were expensive and too small. She couldn't bear to throw them out, but they gave her blisters.

What we remember is probably fiction anyway.