You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck."Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.

This allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cozy corner, devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children's book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else.

With frightening suddenness he now began ripping the pages out of the book in handfuls and throwing them in the waste-paper basket. Matilda froze in horror. The father kept going. There seemed little doubt that the man felt some kind of jealousy. How dare she, he seemed to be saying with each rip of a page, how dare she enjoy reading books when he couldn't? How dare she?

And Matilda found, to her surprise, that life could be fun. She decided to have as much fun as possible. After all, she was a very smart kid.

One could almost hear him saying, 'It's me! Here I come, the great man himself, the master of the house, the wage-earner, the one who makes it possible for the rest of you to live so well! Notice me and pay your respects!

Ik heb gemerkt, juffrouw Engel, in mijn lange loopbaan in het onderwijs, dat een rotmeisje veel gevaarlijker is dan een rotjongen. Bovendien zijn ze veel moeilijker klein te krijgen. Een rotmeisje te grazen nemen is als achter een bromvlieg aan zitten. Je mept erop en het gore kreng is alweer weg. Rotmormeld, die meisjes.

Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous...

What did she do to you?" Matilda asked."I don't want to talk about it," Miss Honey said. "It's too horrible.""But surely you could have complained to somebody?" Matilda said."To whom?" Miss Honey said. "And anyway, I was far too terrified to complain. I told you, I was her slave.""Did she beat you?""Let's not go into details," Miss Honey said.

Era davvero uno strano spettacolo guardare quella personcina seduta, i cui piedi non arrivavano a terra, completamente assorta nelle meravigliose avventure di Pip e della vecchia signorina Havisham con la sua casa piena di ragnatele, persa nell'incantesimo che Dickens, il grande inventore di storie, aveva saputo creare.