The Shell Seekers

by Rosamunde Pilcher

You could bear anything for yourself, but seeing your children hurt was unendurable.

The imagination bolts, the heart sinks in dread. But, in truth, nothing is ever so bad as we think it is going to be.

The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent’s own independence.

“Absence is the wind that blows out the little candle, but fans the embers of a fire to a great blaze.

You couldn’t say “I can’t bear it” because if you didn’t bear it, the only other thing to do was to stop the world and get off, and there did not seem any practical way to do this.

Happiness is making the most of what you have, and riches is making the most of what you’ve got.

As long as Mumma was alive, she knew that some small part of herself had remained a child, cherished and adored. Perhaps you never completely grew up until your mother died.