Reputation is for those who can afford it. - Paula Brackston

Poverty has a way of taking the edge off principles. Hunger can blunt them altogether

It’s a brilliant example of a writer in total control of her material, apparently effortlessly inhabiting the minds of her characters and giving them wonderfully individual voices.

And secrets are dangerous. They start small but grow with every evasive answer or outright lie that protects them. Nevertheless, I confess to finding the closeness such conspiracy breeds irresistibly delicious.