And every place and time an author writes about is imaginary, from Oz to Raymond Chandler's L.A. to Dickens's London.

There are some things worth giving up anything for, even your freedom, and getting rid of your period is definitely one of them.

To do something for someone or something you loved-England or Shakespeare or a dog or the Hodbins or history-wasn't a sacrifice at all. Even if it cost you your freedom, your life, your youth.

Cats, as you know, are quite impervious to threats.

Everyone else had the look of tired patience people always got when listening to a sermon, no matter what the century.

People will buy anything at jumble sales,' I said. 'At the Evacuated Children Charity Fair a woman bought a tree branch that had fallen on the table.

Shakespeare put no children in his plays for a reason," Sir Godfrey muttered, glaring at Alf and Binnie. "You're forgetting the Little Prince," Polly reminded him. "Who he had the good sense to kill off in the second act," snapped Sir Godfrey.