An older sister is a friend and defender - a listener, conspirator, a counsellor and a sharer of delights. And sorrows too.

A cat can maintain a position of curled up somnolence on your knee until you are nearly upright. To the last minute she hopes your conscience will get the better of you and you will settle down again.

It should be possible to exist with only a short shelf of books, to read and give away. After all - we may not open a book, once read, for ten years or more. But the act of reading has made it part of us - to relinquish it would be to lose an extension of our being.

The child who ran weeping to you with a cut finger is now brought home, smiling gamely, with a broken collarbone and incredible contusions- 'it wasn't Jezebels fault, Dad.'

If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she's wearing your best sweater.

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric.

From serenity comes gentleness, comes lasting strength.