Above all, she wanted to look as though she had not given the matter a moment's thought, and that would take time.

No one knew about the squirrel’s skull beneath Briony bed, but no one wanted to know.

Above all, she wanted to look as though she had not given the matter a moment's thought, and that would take time.

was it possible that i was, in the modern term, in denial?

What can it be about low temperatures that sharpens the edges of objects?

It was thought, perception, sensations that interested her, the conscious mind as a river through time, and how to represent its onward roll, as well as all the tributaries that would swell it, and the obstacles that would divert it. If only she could reproduce the clear light of a summer's morning.

Twenty years ago I might have hired a professional listener, but somewhere along the way I had lost faith in the talking cure. A genteel fraud in my view.