“Their lives were being rolled away around them. They were like the tenants of an empty house; when the removers have finished, you are left with the bare floors, the forgotten bit of cracked china, the dust you have disturbed. They are like the last diners in a café, when the clocks are chiming with menace and the waiters are clearing their throats: you must conclude your conversation now, you must split the bill, and go out into the cold street.”
―
Hilary Mantel,
A Place of Greater Safety
