Shrines of Gaiety

by Kate Atkinson

“Gossip,” Mr. Pollock called it dismissively, but Gwendolen thought that was the word men gave to women’s conversation. Men talked in order to convey information or to ruminate on cricket scores and campaign statistics. Women, on the other hand, talked in an effort to understand the foibles of human behaviour. If men were to “gossip,” the world might be a better place. There would certainly be fewer wars.

Sometimes it felt to Ramsay as if his life were just one long struggle to be real. (He was inclined to melodrama.)

struck him how much he would miss the hustle and bustle of public transport. It made him feel as though he was part of something and not stranded in solitude.