"The curtains were blood-red and drawn. This was not an office. It was a small library, two storeys high, with thin ladders and impractical balconies and an expansive ceiling featuring a gaggle of naked Greeks. It was the sort of library you'd marry a man for."

"A new adaptation of Jane Eyre came out every year, and every year it was exactly the same. An unknown actress would play Jane, and she was usually prettier than she should have been. A very handsome, very brooding, very 'ooh-la-la' man would play Rochester, and Judi Dench would play everyone else."

"You'd be amazed to discover all the tangible things that can come out of dreams." "Like drool?"

"His expression was impassive. Somewhere, I just knew, he must have a slew of illegitimate children, all named Bartholomew."