"She doesn't believe in dogs," Bridget said. "Dogs are hardly an article of faith," Sylvie said. - Kate Atkinson

The purpose of Art,” his mother, Sylvie, said — instructed even — “is to convey the truth of a thing, not to be the truth itself.

The plot thickens,” he said, and wished he hadn’t said that because it sounded like something from a bad detective novel. “I think we have a suspect.” That didn’t sound much better. “My house has just exploded, by the way.” At least that was novel.

Good news?’ Gloria queried. She wondered if Emily was pregnant again (was that good news?), so she was taken aback when Emily said, ‘I’ve found Jesus.’ ‘Oh,’ Gloria said. ‘Where was he?