White Nights Quotes
"As always after a trip home, he wondered why he found it so difficult to get on with his father."
"This was a date, wasn’t it? The first real date."
"He wanted to tell her how stunning she looked, but because he couldn’t think how without seeming crass or patronizing, they drove all the way to Biddista in silence."
"He squeezed her hand. He wanted to tell her how stunning she looked."
"Walk out of the door and there’d be the smell of seaweed and salt."
"He still felt flustered after the rush from the plane and by the sense that this was his one chance with Fran."
"He looked at Fran. Perhaps this was too sentimental for her. But she was cheering along with the rest."
"‘Just buy the paintings,’ he said. ‘That’s why you’re here. I’m only the warm-up act. The pictures are the main attraction.’"
"She wanted to shout to the people who were catching up on island gossip, who stood with their back to the art: Look properly at the images on the walls. Take them seriously."
"He had kissed her cheek, touched her arm, but there had been no other physical contact."
"She was keeping her distance, her independence."
"Pictures of him rattled around in her head, like old-fashioned slides dropping into a projector."
"Perez thought that at this time of year everyone went a bit crazy."
"In his experience, people who were really depressed, who felt like crying all the time, those people didn’t seek out the limelight."
"‘It can’t be that bad, can it?’ He couldn’t imagine making a show of his grief."
"‘I don’t know my name,’ he said flatly. ‘I can’t remember it. I don’t know my name and I don’t remember why I’m here.’"
"He looked so sleek, so well-groomed it was hard to think he might have had an accident."
"‘What about your trousers?’ The man pulled out the pocket linings, standing there looking terrified and faintly ridiculous."
"‘How would I know?’ It came out almost as a scream."
"‘He’s a fine musician,’ Kenny said. ‘Just as she’s a fine artist. I’m not sure that excuses the way they treat folk, though.’"
"Bella’s as sharp as she always was. Sharper, if it comes to business."
"‘Murder!’ Still the boy’s mouth had a twist at the corner as if this was also a joke, too incredible to be true."
"Bella took me in when I wanted to carry on living here. If it wasn’t for her I’d be speaking with a Texas accent and playing country and western. I owe her."
"We all grow up with them, but how can we tell which of them are true?"
"All the same, it’s been a long time. And people look different when they’re dead."
"He had a birthmark on his right shoulder," Kenny said. "However he’s changed, I’ll know him by that."
"As soon as he saw the face he knew it wasn’t Lawrence."
"He supposed it was the release of tension, the relief."
"No," he said. "That’s not Lawrence. Definitely not."
"I don’t know," Kenny said again. "If you live that close to people you don’t pry."
"He supposed it would be less complicated. There was Cassie to think about."
"It was as good as she’d known. How strange that is," she thought.
"The spooky half-light which never disappeared really freaked him out."
"Perhaps it was the extreme of the dark winters and sleepless summers that made the people so odd."
"He was quite scathing about the kids who turned up here to work with their degrees in performance and no real experience in theatre."
"The grass here was cropped very short by sheep and rabbits."
"He caught his breath, thinking how close he had come to leaving Edith."
"The thought came into Perez’s head that it would suit him very nicely if Wilding turned out to be a murderer."
"He saw that Sandy was staring at him. ‘Now all I have to do is prove it.’"
"He stood on the rocky bridge between the sea and the Pit o’ Biddista."
"Sometimes he thought sheep were the dumbest creatures in the world."
"He imagined her tumbling over and over down the slope, her head smacking on a boulder, her skull smashing like an eggshell."
"The light was diffuse, milky, and he realized it was already ten o'clock."
"It wasn’t a sheer drop into the Pit on all sides."
"She watched Taylor approaching across the rehearsal room and got up to meet him."
"It seemed having a murder so close by hadn’t put people off coming."
"If he died suddenly, would anyone know who to contact for him?"
"It was as if he’d been wearing the same clothes for days."
"But if Bella sent him away with a flea in his ear, perhaps that explains it."
"Perhaps he was curious to see the girl before he made a commitment to meet her."
"Don’t worry, darling. You’ll get your ten per cent. But this is a bit of private enterprise."
"A kid straight out of school could put on a costume and hand out a few flyers."
"This could be my big chance, darling. The time to hit the jackpot. My little bit of luck."
"I thought I loved her,' Kenny said. 'A bit of summer madness.'"
"I didn’t have any idea what had happened. We’d been married all that time and I didn’t guess a thing."
"She always was a strong woman. She could keep up with me in the work on the croft."