Not that she objected to solitude. Quite the contrary. She had books, thank Heaven, quantities of books. All sorts of books.

Next week, or next month, or next year I will kill myself. But I might as well last out my month's rent, which has been paid up.

The rumble of the life outside was like the sound of the sea which was rising gradually around her.

before I could read, almost a baby, I imagined that God, this strange thing or person I heard about, was a book.

You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone. We are alone in the most beautiful place in the world.

that expression you get in your eyes when you are very tired and everything is like a dream and you are starting to know what things are like underneath what people say they are.

I took the red dress down and put it against myself. 'Does it make me look intemperate and unchaste?' I said.