For some time now she has had the conviction that life is about to change if only because it must. . . .

And it was at moments like this that she had to remind herself that she was in love with him, or had once been in love with him, a long time ago.

…and Emma felt another small portion of her soul fall away.

A moment passed, perhaps half a second when their faces said what they felt, and then Emma was smiling, laughing, her arms around his neck.

You must do what you enjoy.

But at the best of times she feels like a character in a Muriel Spark novel — independent, bookish, sharp-minded, secretly romantic.

You can't throw away years of your life because it makes a funny anecdote.