Civilised life, you know, is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is we forget after a while that t… - J. G. Ballard

Even their insistence on educating their children, the last reflex of any exploited group before it sank into submission, marked the end of their resistance.

Within half an hour almost all the women were drunk, a yardstick Laing had long used to measure the success of a party.

When he had first met her, Royal had taken for granted her absolute self-confidence, but in fact the reverse was true - far from being sure of herself, Anne needed constantly to re-establish her position on the top rung of the ladder. By comparison, the professional people around her, who had achieved everything as a result of their own talents, were models of self-assurance