The Lost Quotes

“Silence in the courtroom, silence in the street, the biggest mouth in Ireland is just about to speak . . .”
― Claire McGowan, The Lost

“door, and then he was stumbling back against the flames, and falling, and she saw the man was on fire. Gerard was burning.”
― Claire McGowan, The Lost

“Entering her old school foyer was like stepping back in time. Paula felt an urge to roll down her socks and undo the top buttons of her shirt. Girls seemed to appear from every door and window, aware by some strange telepathy that a man had entered the premises. The air was heavy with Impulse and mild hysteria. It was strange, she thought, watching Guy's strong back go up the stairs. At that age she'd have considered him desperately old - someone's dad. But at some point, everything had changed.”
― Claire McGowan, The Lost

“But these girls, they don’t know what they’re really offering. It’s up to the adult to turn them away, to help them.’ ‘Of course they know. They know exactly what they want.’ Paula tried not to shudder. How many times had she heard those words from abusers, however young or vulnerable their victims? They wanted it.”
― Claire McGowan, The Lost

“to go back to?’ Paula said nothing to that, thinking of her sparse flat overlooking the sluggish river, long evenings in front of DVDs with just her case-notes, the pull of the tide outside her flat. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t decided.’ ‘Right. Listen, Paula . . .’ He paused. ‘There’s something else. I wondered for a long time should I tell you this. I mean, you’ve had such a rough time of it.’ ‘I’m OK. What is it?’ She braced herself for more awful revelations about the Mission, about Maddy, now sectioned and suicidal again, about the McGreavy family. But nothing prepared her for what he said next. ‘As you know, one of the old files we were given was your mother’s.’ ‘Oh.’ She blinked. ‘There won’t be anything there. It was all picked over many times.’ ‘But that’s the thing. This man who’s getting out of prison – Sean Conlon – the one who most likely killed John O’Hara, well, he’s been hinting he knows other things.”
― Claire McGowan, The Lost

“Eamonn Carr was coming in with tea on a tray, and what looked like home-made biscuits. Paula took her drink gratefully, but saw that Guy just sipped his and put it down on a well-placed coaster.”
― Claire McGowan, The Lost