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‘The fact is, I don’t like to begin about it with Brooke, in our mutual position; the whole thing is so unpleasant. I do wish people would behave like gentlemen,’ said the good baronet, feeling that this was a simple and comprehensive programme for social well-being.

the Egyptians, who were in charge of the administration in Canaan at that time, had had the foresight to plan for the drought, increasing the production of grain and breeding more hardy cattle, in order to counter the climatic problems that they saw coming. This may, in part, explain why they were in a position to send shipments of grain to the Hit

He was growing fat again, but in any case he had no intention of getting out of the way of running up and down the rigging, as some heavy captains did: the feel of the shrouds under his hands, the give and spring of live rigging, the heave and swing on the roll as he came over into the top made him deeply happy.

Perhaps this woman had found a way to prevent the sad things that happen to us turning into secrets, then percolating through the subconscious and causing havoc in the dangerous territory of memory. The trick might be to proclaim your story, rather than hide it.

A perfect restaurant: linoleum and vinyl and hugging owners and a dusting of feta on all the food. Sometimes the giant windows were open to the street and the smelly sunshine poured in, but usually it was a place to hide from the rain, full of steaming wet coats and intense conversations. I went here with anyone and everyone, or with a book. One gr

‘We voted it down, in a meeting!’ says Willow. ‘When a vote doesn’t go the way you want it to go, you can’t just ignore it. That’s not how votes work.’ Mariam squeezes her eyes closed. ‘Meetings aren’t going to save the planet.’ Willow holds up her hand. ‘Look at the bloody sky, Mariam. Is that going to save the planet?’

They were alone up there, in the box pews that could be fastened with a latch, where once when Thomas was young he’d found a note pushed between the seat and the arm of the pew – Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, the note had read, and troubled him for weeks.

Mr Casaubon seemed even unconscious that trivialities existed, and never handed round that small-talk of heavy men which is as acceptable as stale bride-cake brought forth with an odour of cupboard. He talked of what he was interested in, or else he was silent and bowed with sad civility. To Dorothea this was adorable genuineness, and religious abs

So, I was dragged along the street, a cobblestone street, by the way: very bumpy. All those doing the dragging were men, though there were some female bystanders, gazing at me in wonderment—wasn’t I supposed to be the revered, trusted confidante of the rulers in this civilized, prosperous, vibrant, and tolerant queen city of the venerable Roman Emp