The Glass Lake Quotes

“It was so silly to try to define things by words. What did one person mean by infatuation or obsession and another mean by love. The whole thing couldn't be tidied away with neat little labels." - Lena Gray”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“But an intelligent man like you would know that to live in an unrealistic hope is a very foolish way to spend a life." - Lena Gray”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“It was so silly to try to define things by words, she had said. What did one person mean by infatuation or obsession and another mean by love. The whole thing couldn’t be tidied away with neat little labels.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Life went on. And it was quite usual to see young people taking a boat out over the quiet water of the lake in Lough Glass at night. Stevie and Kit took the little box of ashes and sprinkled it in the water. The moon was high in the sky and they didn’t feel sad. It wasn’t really a funeral. All that was over, in London and years ago … the first time. This wasn’t a sad thing, it was just the right thing to do.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“But there it was again. His face, handsome, petulant, impatient, the way he was when he didn’t get what he wanted. ‘Get out of here, Louis,’ she said aloud. ‘I’ve nothing to lose now,’ Louis said. ‘I’ll bring you down with me, you’ll be sorry you didn’t listen to me. I’ve nothing to lose.’ There was a huge truck. The lights of a truck and a terrible shattering of glass and … Then there was nothing.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Stevie. He went up to the hotel and beat the living daylights out of Louis. He’s lost three teeth and he has a broken jaw.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“you’re trying to blackmail me.’ ‘I thought you were saying this might be an open line.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“You’ve been to Lough Glass.’ There was a pause. And then with a heavy menace he said: ‘And if you know what’s good for you I wouldn’t go again.’ Then he moved away. Louis had gone white. What did the fellow mean? He saw Stevie put his arm around Kit’s shoulder and she held his hand tightly. Kit McMahon, Lena’s daughter. And her boyfriend. But they didn’t know, for God’s sake. None of them knew.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Slightly at a loss, Louis turned to talk to someone else. Young women didn’t normally walk away from him like that. Stevie had been watching; he saw the way Louis had laid his hand on Kit’s arm with his easy familiar charm. It had made Stevie rage inside.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“The bile rose in Stevie’s throat as he heard the story unfold. How Mary Paula had first met him when he was driving it to a seminar. She had admired the man in the white Triumph. ‘I said to him, “That’s a nice car,” he said to me, “Let’s take it on a test drive then,”’ and neither of them had gone to the seminar at all. ‘Don’t tell that to my father-in-law, though,’ Louis whispered. ‘He might think I was unreliable.’ Mary Paula giggled. ‘And you’re not?’ Stevie said stonily. ‘No.’ Louis looked alarmed. The boy was looking at him oddly.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Then suddenly Stevie turned and went back to hug her too. ‘I’ll look after her, please believe me I’ll be good to her. If I thought I wouldn’t, I’d go away now.’ She was so surprised it nearly took her breath away. When they were on the bus she asked him: ‘Why did you do that?’ ‘I wanted to,’ he said. Then after a pause: ‘I got a funny feeling that I was never going to see her again.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Mary Paula had severe morning sickness and was in no mood to console him. He had to be particularly consolatory to her.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Emmet, I love you. I’m so blind and stupid, thank you for waiting for me, for understanding.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Then she wanted to tell them that Mary Paula had got herself hooked to a liar and deceiver in the international league. She wanted to say that she could tell them a story about their future brother-in-law and his deceptions that would make their pale greasy hair stand on end.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“I’ll tell you what’s brought it on – the behaviour of a man who has acted like a selfish bastard. You’ve thought of nobody but yourself, Louis, all the time … self, self, self.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Now that her childbearing years were over he had discovered that he wanted to be a father. And he expected her to understand all this. Possibly even be glad for him. Louis Gray must be a man without any sensitivity at all. He must be lacking in any real brain as well. Perhaps he was a bit simple. Maybe that lopsided smile and those deep eyes were empty, meaningless things, not an indication of a loving soul.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Her instinct was to go out to see what was wrong. Perhaps he had been taken ill. But then she remembered the cold, dead look in Lena’s face earlier in the day. This was the end of the road for them, Ivy knew it now. Eventually Louis recovered himself and went on up the stairs. Ernest was happily looking at the television set. ‘I’ll get you a cup of tea,’ Ivy said. She was restless now; she couldn’t concentrate.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Things will always be desperate while old people don’t make any move to change them,’ Clio said.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“I’m surprised you didn’t have her in white with half a dozen trainbearers,’ Louis said under his breath. Lena flashed him a smile as if he had said something warm and encouraging instead of sneering. Ivy was very quick on the uptake; she would notice if Lena glowered.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“It couldn’t possibly mean that his latest fling might be someone from Ireland. That would be too hurtful to imagine. Or someone that he was taking to Ireland on a magic trip. Some girl that he was going to impress with his fairytale ways in the Emerald Isle.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“They hung there, the jackets she had bought for him, the shirts that she took to the Chinese laundry each week, the shoes that she polished until they shone. ‘Oh nonsense, I’m doing my own,’ she had said the first time he protested, and he hadn’t protested again. Of course she had done too much for him. But if she had done any less it would have ended long ago. Long before now. She felt a chill. Why did she think it was ending now?”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“The public Louis was a man you couldn’t fault.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Was Louis mean? He had always seemed the very spirit of generosity. When he had hardly sixpence left he would spend the coins he had on a bunch of violets. She couldn’t bear to think of Louis as mean. Anything else but that.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Jesus, half of Dublin seems to be from that one-horse town. Clio as well. Well, it sure breeds fine-looking women.’ His arms tightened a little around her. Kit was about to pull away when she saw Stevie Sullivan looking at her over Frankie’s shoulder. She didn’t pull away, instead she smiled up at Kevin. ‘Any tighter and I’ll put my knee up with a sudden jerk,’ she said, still smiling sweetly.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“She watched the others looking at Louis, animated, handsome and the centre of attention. He was a sham, she thought angrily, he was a fraud and a con trick. Why had she wasted her life on him? Why was she not back in Lough Glass where she belonged with her family, with her children who needed her? What was she doing in this ridiculous house in London, working her guts out for an employment agency up the road, drinking a toast to Ivy and Ernest in a roomful of people she hardly knew? This was a Saturday night, she should be at home in Lough Glass. A terrible emptiness took hold of her. At home in Lough Glass doing what?”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“You’ve got a good man there,’ Ivy said to Lena. ‘Yes,’ Lena said. Ivy looked at her sharply. ‘Deep down he’s full of heart,’ Ivy insisted. Ivy, who knew how unfaithful he was, how hard she tried to entertain him. Ivy, who alone knew that they were not married, could be fooled by this little gesture of goodwill.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“I don’t know. Maybe the fellow from my own home town. He’s very good looking, Stevie.’ Kit said this partly to put the glamorous Frankie in the position of knowing that Stevie was out of bounds, partly to convince herself. In her heart she knew that Stevie was cheap and obvious.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“I wish I knew what you were planning to do with your life, Kit McMahon,’ Clio said. ‘So do I,’ Kit agreed fervently.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“Because we all do the same as our parents in the end. Your mother was glamorous and could have gone anywhere and done anything and yet she married your nice, safe father and came to live in a one-horse town like Lough Glass for security; you’ll do the same.’ ‘And what about you? Do you love Michael, Clio?’ ‘I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. What’s love?’ ‘I wish I knew that too,’ Kit spoke absently. She wondered was there any truth in what Clio said, that people did what their mothers did. If so, there was a stormy future ahead of Kit.”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake

“You’re not bad-looking, Kit. Fellows are always saying that you look terrific. Could you sort of set yourself at him and get him. Distract him from Anna … then she’d come back to me.’ Her first instinct was to laugh. Kit McMahon, a Mata Hari who could attract the desire of any man away from a little blonde beauty like Anna Kelly!”
― Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake