148 Quotes by Michel Faber

He ought to have conceded that she was a flower not destined to open, a hothouse creation, no less beautiful, no less woth having, He should have admired her, praised her and, at the close of day, let her be.

MERCY. It was a word she’d rarely encountered.

Without you at my side, I feel as though my eyes are just a camera, like a closed-circuit camera without film in it, registering what’s out there, second by second, letting it all vanish instantly to be replaced by more images, none of them properly appreciated.

She holds her head as high as if she were beautiful, and holds her body as if she were strong.

Nothing happened, and time stubbornly refused to pass.

This is a street where the weaker souls crawl into bed as soon as the sun sets and lie awake listening to the rats.

Belief was a place that people didn’t leave until they absolutely must.

The walls shrugged themselves loose from their foundations and slid towards the centre of the room, as if attracted by the struggle. The ceiling, a massive rectangular slab of concrete furrowed with fluorescent white, also shuddered loose and loomed down on her.

So much for yesterday. Today, Sophie’s formal education must begin. Dressing the lamb before the kill, as Mrs Castaway once put it, when Sugar dared to ask what, exactly, education is.