It's amazing what storms your face can hide, what terrible wrecks can writhe and heave beneath, without one ripple on the surface.

I thought about having a proper room, breathing life into it, and nobody minding.

It's amazing what storms your face can hide, what terrible wrecks can writhe and heave beneath, without one ripple on the surface.

I didn't have time to lose it. I didn't have time to lie down in the corner shop and scream and beat the floor until my hands bled. I didn't have time to miss Jack. Stroma kept on chattering away and getting excited over novelty spaghetti shapes and finding the joy in every little thing, and it occurred to me even then that she was probably looking after me, too.

It's not knowing that drives you mad. It's imaging things that you wish you couldn't think up all by yourself.

I smiled back and I thought how incredible that was, that they would find the time to smile. There was goodness in the world still, even if you couldn’t always see it.

Even when you’d lost everything you thought there was to lose, somebody came along and gave you something for free.