The flying fox Quotes

“Milton had a day to day outlook; if life were not at any given moment positively unbearable, that is to say, if he were not actually cold, nor without a drink, nor alone, he still maintained a vivid faith in the future.”
― Mary McMinnies, The flying fox: A novel set during the twilight of British rule in Malaya

“There she goes, an elderly, well-dressed woman in a tailor-made suit and a, what was it, “worn” fur coat—a lady dressed, armoured for the day, vanishing now down the long ugly avenue, the black branches scratching her out of sight. There she goes, all day to impress others with her small linen handkerchiefs, the pearls in her ears, her hesitant manner, her tremulous smile,--while to him was left the imprint of her head, it was already cold where she had lain, and knowing what they would never know, that she wore a blue slip beneath the suit…”
― Mary McMinnies, The flying fox: A novel set during the twilight of British rule in Malaya

“Here it was, high and clear, still far off but unmistakable, the mocking hail which plucked the strings of a long silence; and pricking his ears he caught the sounds of that sly familiar progress, the rustle in the bushes, twigs snapping, hop skip and jump in the clearing, the reeds parting for an instance and the glimpse—sideways, never face to satyr face—of a horn’s tip, a furry ear, an eyeball gleaming, a derisive flick of the tail—vanished and the reeds resumed their shape. It was Luck. High time, too. Something had turned up.”
― Mary McMinnies, The flying fox: A novel set during the twilight of British rule in Malaya