Nine Perfect Strangers Quotes
"I’m fine,’ said the woman. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me.’ She didn’t look fine to Yao."
"‘I am on no medication at all,’ said Masha, her gaze fixed on the computer."
"Yao thought, I actually really do need to check your boss’s vital signs right now, motherfucker."
"She sighed, looking out the window for something to break the monotony of the landscape."
"The back pain had begun two weeks ago, on the day she finally accepted that Paul Drabble had disappeared."
"She smiled because she reminded herself of one of those peevish TripAdvisor reviewers."
"‘I’m due to check in at a health resort in an hour’s time.’ Lars held the wineglass up to the light."
"‘Isn’t it?’ said Frances. ‘But no-one ever said it was like this!’ For now they were monitoring things."
"‘It’s just good manners,’ she told him. ‘You don’t take your fight to a party. It’s no-one else’s business.’"
"‘I used to be a paramedic in a previous life,’ replied Yao."
"I wondered if they were sleeping together. They’d have such aerobic, flexible sex with all that wellness pumping through their young bodies. It would be just so awesome."
"Heather skin like leather, thought Frances. That was a really mean mnemonic but Heather would never know."
"They were the sort of male legs that made you feel uncomfortable, as if you were looking at a private part of the body."
"The daughter, Zoe, had her dad’s height and the casual grace of an athletic, outdoorsy girl."
"Her bag sat like an old familiar friend in a corner of the room."
"It was like being on an aeroplane once the seatbelt sign was turned on and the flight attendants were now in charge of your entire existence."
"‘I don’t get the obsession with strangers,’ her first husband, Sol, once said to her, and Frances had struggled to explain that strangers were by definition interesting."
"Jessica managed to stop herself from grabbing at it and putting it all back in order. She was the one in charge of paperwork."
"‘I’ve actually been feeling very unwell lately, Yao,’ she said pitifully."
"Ever since Zach died it was as if Zoe’s life was in permanent jeopardy and only her parents’ secret, ongoing vigilance would save her."
"Her eyes followed the softly curved silhouette of the blue-green hills along the horizon and she thought of her ex-boyfriend."
"‘You remember the card she sent?’ Ben repeated obliviously. ‘Because we were so upset about the robbery?’"
"‘Growth can be painful,’ Masha told him, her voice gentle."
"‘I am very happy to give you a full refund,’ She fixed Tony with her eyes like a pin through a butterfly."
"‘I’m so happy, I’m so happy, I’m so happy, breathe,’ she silently chanted in time with her strokes."
"It really hurts me to say this but, the thing is, I’m just not attracted to you anymore."
"You should spend January lying in a hammock and eating cheese."
"Average wasn’t good enough. Average was too big."
"It wasn’t like the information wasn’t available on how to take care of yourself!"
"I don’t think you need to lose weight. You’re beautiful and Joel is a shallow idiot."
"In ten days, you will not be the person you are now."
"I want to learn more about Tony Hogburn’s past. There’s something about him."
"If she could transform her body, she could transform her life."
"You never had children. Was that decision made by choice? Or was it forced upon you by circumstance?"
"I’m grateful to her. She saved my life."
"I feel like giving us drugs without our permission must be against the law," said Jessica.
"There's nothing on my mind," said Lars. "Don't you touch my hair while I'm asleep, Delilah."
"We won't let that happen, Napoleon," said Masha. "We are trained medical professionals and we're here to help and guide you."
"It's called guided psychedelic therapy," said Masha. "As your ego dissolves you will access a higher level of consciousness."
"That's kind of you," he said modestly. "I can't take credit for it. I come from a long line of devastatingly handsome men."
"My fault, my fault, my fault." Napoleon banged his head against the wall.
"I thought I was going to be his mother," she said to Gillian. "It's the only time in my life I even considered being a mother."
"It’s all just a giant illusion," said Gillian.
"I never even met you, let alone loved you, impostor!" she cried.
"Ever since she’d joined the workforce, she’d known this about herself: she was, at heart, a PA."
"You needed to be careful with the delicate skin around your eyes."
"Sometimes Ben’s mother sat and cried over the pictures of Lucy before she fell for the lies of drugs."
"Her mother seriously thought Jessica could go back and work in that shitkicker job when she now earned more in bank interest in just one month than she used to earn in a whole year."
"‘Of course it’s to do with you,’ said Jessica. ‘I only wanted your baby.’"
"‘My highest mark ever was close to twelve feet.’ Tony looked up at the rafter. ‘I can reach that, no problem.’"
"You’re not in trouble, Zach. I’m so sorry for yelling at you. I understand now, son. You’re not in trouble, mate."
"‘I’m sure Yao is fine, don’t you think? And Delilah? There is no way Masha would really hurt anyone,’ said Frances."
"Masha was a working mother. She had work to do."
"Sometimes her colleagues pretended not to understand her and sometimes she could tell they really didn’t understand, even though she spoke better English than them."
"At home she had many friends, but here she experienced a strange kind of shyness."
"The moment they walked through the front door women and men split into different groups as if they were banned from talking to each other."
"He became quiet again. She finished what she was doing. It took less than five minutes. Maybe four."
"He’d strangled himself playing with a long white cord from the window blind."
"Her husband said it was an accident and there was nothing to forgive as he stood at the hospital wearing the paint-splattered overalls from his game."
"She remembered also one strange moment when she had looked at the strangers all around her and wanted her mother, a woman who had never really liked Masha."
"She refused her husband’s forgiveness. Her son called for her and she did not go to him. It was unacceptable."
"She let her husband go. She insisted he find another life and he did eventually, although it took much, much longer than Masha wanted."
"Masha’s son would have been twenty-eight this August."
"She should have been allowed to stay with him."
"Never once had a member of staff defied her the way these people were defying her."
"She looked around the room and noticed a vacuum cleaner sitting quietly in the corner of her office."
"‘No, no, no!’ she screamed. ‘Papochka! Put it down! Do not go!’"
"‘You’re panting,’ said Jo to Frances. ‘I’ve been doing push-ups,’ said Frances."
"The man sat on the couch next to his daughter-in-law and she glanced at him curiously but didn’t say anything else."
"‘So, I’m not pregnant,’ said Jessica. ‘Never was pregnant. It was all in my head.’"
"‘Thank you, Frances.’ She put a hand to the side of her neck and considered the potential murder weapon."
"‘That woman had you in a trance,’ his mother said."