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A New World

V. S. Pritchett

‘What was this new world? It was their love for each other.’

The View from Yves Hill

William Boyd

‘What is the point of rising early? I congratulate myself if I'm out of bed before midday.’

The Brooklyn Follies

Paul Auster

‘I was looking for a quiet place to die.’

Ecstasy

J. Robert Lennon

‘She lay there, her hand on her jeans in the place where she’d seen John’s head coming out of his mother.’

The Enemy

Tessa Hadley

‘She relished the thought of his rather ravaged fifty-five-year-old and oh-so-male head against her broderie anglaise pillowcases.‘

In Lana Turner’s Bedroom

Gaby Wood

‘It was because it was night-time and raining that I decided to drive up to Lana Turner's old house in Beverly Hills.’

Two or Three Things I Dunno About Cassavetes

Jonathan Lethem

‘Writing about Cassavetes feels like vocalese: putting lyrics to passages of jazz improvisation.’

Stay Up Late

Jim Lewis

‘She wanted to enjoy herself, she wanted to try, but she didn't know where to begin.’

Down in Front

Colson Whitehead

‘This is the part where we find our seats. Step on toes, suck in gut, make yourself flat as a movie screen.’

Midsummer in April

Maarten ’t Hart

‘A premonition of approaching calamity deepened in the course of March to an unease that drove me almost crazy.’

The First Punch

Jon McGregor

‘I’m on the ground, and he is standing over me. Everything is muffled. I’m aware of the sound of running water somewhere.’

Anubis

Paul Murray

‘Here in space you don't often get the chance to meet women.’

Envy

Kathryn Chetkovich

‘Why does it hurt only to read good work by the living?’

Five Cats and Three Women

J. Robert Lennon

‘While he didn't mind (not much anyway) being responsible for the death of one cat, his cat, he did not feel good shouldering the death of four cats.’