Hope is treacherous, but how can you live without it?

But people need lift, too. People don't get moving, they don't soar, they don't achieve great heights, without someone buoying them up.

Oh Julie, wouldn’t I know if you were dead? Wouldn’t I feel it happening, like a jolt of electricity to my heart?

Southampton's barrage balloons floated gleaming in the moonlight like the ghosts of elephants and hippos.

Maddie took the top of her egg off. The hot bright yolk was like summer sun breaking through cloud. The first daffodil in the snow. A gold sovereign wrapped in a white silk handkerchief. She dipped her spoon in it and licked it.

One moment flying in green sunlight, then the sky suddenly grey and dark.

There were no route maps posted on the walls, but a Wonderland-style sign commanding, 'If you know where you are, then please tell others.