Shrines of Gaiety

by Kate Atkinson

Life was for absorbing, not recording. And in the end, it was all just paper that someone would have to dispose of after you were gone. Perhaps, after all, one’s purpose in this world was to be forgotten, not remembered.

Nellie might walk away from a fight, but she never lost an argument.

A woman in her sixth decade, dressed in everyday drab, is more invisible than a librarian.