‘The death of a father is, in most cases, an inevitable passage of life.’
The death of a father is, in most cases, an inevitable passage of life. If you’re a novelist, however open-mindedly or unwittingly you start out, you know that certain big personal events must one day be accommodated into your work. There will be the novel, for example, you write after your father…
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Sometimes it haunts you like a knell, sometimes it's the motto for unimagined privilege.’
‘Frank Randall had three sons: Michael, Eddy and Mark. That was fine by him‘.
‘Then he led me out into the noise and the glare and the stink.’
‘Sorting out the world! He should have sorted out himself and his own jeopardized household.’
‘The fact remains that when I did ask questions, I got the same response: genuine, not stimulated, ignorance. No one seemed to have heard of him.’
’ My name is Brian Cathcart. I grew up mainly in Northern Ireland. My father was headmaster of a secondary school and my mother taught English. I come from Protestant stock, though I have no religion myself. I studied history at university. I remember the Troubles starting, the war in Biafra, the Beatles.’
