Down there the nights are bright and nobody believes in the Devil.

Every book should begin with attractive endpapers. Preferably in a dark colour: dark red or dark blue, depending on the binding. When you open the book it's like going to the theatre. First you see the curtain. Then it's pulled aside and the show begins.

I like to visit my horse, have a walk with my dog.

Ten minutes can be a long time when you're waiting with a beating heart for something you don't understand, something you don't really want to know.

What on earth have you packed in here? Bricks?" asked Mo as he carried Meggie's book-box out of the house. You're the one who says books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them," said Meggie.

The night breathed through the apartment like a dark animal. The ticking of a clock. The groan of a floorboard as he slipped out of his room. All was drowned by its silence. But Jacob loved the night. He felt it on his skin like a promise. Like a cloak woven from freedom and danger.

How fast the ears learned to tell what sounds meant, much faster than it took the eyes to decipher written words.