Sublime

Though her father had never mentioned his schooldays, though she had never heard the story of her parents’ marriage or their move to Middlewood, Lydia felt the ache of it all, deep and piercing as a foghorn. More than anything, her father fretted over her being well liked. Over her fitting in.

In Rosamond’s romance it was not necessary to imagine much about the inward life of the hero, or of his serious business in the world: of course, he had a profession and was clever, as well as sufficiently handsome; but the piquant fact about Lydgate was his good birth, which distinguished him from all Middlemarch admirers, and presented marriage a

They were at the parking lot now, and Bob turned to her. “Lucy—” And then he did not know what to say. “I hear what you’re saying,” she said, brushing back her hair from her face. “I didn’t say anything.” “I know. But I heard you,” Lucy said.

My mother hated Uncle Roger’s wife, her aunt Rose. Why? She had an operation on her stomach, and when Nana and I walked into her hospital room, she said to the people there, “And these are my poor relations.” My mother clung to that story. She wasn’t classy like Aunt Rose or Uncle Roger, but she wasn’t poor enough to be called poor. I carefully rem

Katharine Hepburn left her mark on the role in the film version, retitled Summertime (1955), the story beautifully opened up with location shooting in Venice itself.

for all Desiree knew, Stella had lived white for half her life now, and maybe acting for that long ceased to be acting altogether. Maybe pretending to be white eventually made it so.

They were very entertaining—it was like watching magic tricks. Both she and Camilla talked about their husbands the way we talked about the sisters at school, revealing how cleverly they’d deceived them, even if they had innocent motives such as buying a dress or choosing where to spend a vacation. Giacinta claimed she’d managed to make her husband

he certainly liked him the better, as Rosamond did, for being a stranger in Middlemarch. One can begin so many things with a new person! – even begin to be a better man.

Moody had never thought much about money, because he had never needed to. Lights went on when he flipped switches; water came out when he turned the tap.