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The Pathology Lesson
Michael Dibdin
‘The autopsy is complete. I thank the pathologist, who thanks me for coming. We both thank the assistant, who in turn thanks us. It is all very polite, very English. You almost expect the cadavers to add their thanks as well.’
The Cells, Tissues, Systems and Cavities of the Body
Jeanette Winterson
‘You were a coat of many colours wrestled into the dirt.’
At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers
Salman Rushdie
‘The bidders who have assembled for the auction of the magic slippers bear little resemblance to your usual saleroom.’
Motorama 1954
Bill Morris
‘It was at sundown on New Year's Day 1954 that Claire Hathaway began to feel embarrassed by her new television set.’
The Night of the Railwaymen’s Ball
Ivan Klíma
‘The season of ballroom dancing was upon us and crime was on the increase. I have little interest in ballroom dancing – I don't dance.’
The Adjuster
Tracy Kidder
’On the day my career at Fireplace Mutual began, six of us recruits filed into the smoke-filled office of the Supervisor of Adjusters, Mr Kreisky.’
Night Prayer
Louise Erdrich
‘It was hot and windy in the garden of Our Lady of the Wheat, but inside the convent it was worse.’
Bears in Mourning
Adam Mars-Jones
‘When I think about it, it was terrible the way we behaved when Victor died. We behaved as if we were ashamed of him, or angry.’
Ramadan
Mona Simpson
‘He took my left hand and banded a cleft rose petal over my third finger. I knew before looking in the book. ‘Marrying,’ he said. He’s so young, I was thinking.’
The Law of White Spaces
Giorgio Pressburger
‘It was beginning to seem as if his brother’s fate depended on him, on his ability, or lack of it, to learn the prayer for the dead.’
