A Room Above a Shop Quotes

“Always lying. Exposed, they would be shamed. Shamed in the town that knows their fathers and their mothers, their brothers and sisters and their pets, and all the stories, lies and missteps they have ever taken as children, as boys, as men. It would mean leaving.”
― Anthony Shapland, A Room Above a Shop

“It’s a world only they know. The place they have for each other. A refuge, a hide. No word or deed reaches the ground from this floating platform, on this mattress, this raft, on this ocean adrift in the afternoon sun. This room lightly tethered by stairs.”
― Anthony Shapland, A Room Above a Shop

“How often has he stared into the mirror at this hidden him? An understudy, carefully learning lines and behaviours; waiting in the wings to take the stage. Trying to understand how it is to be in this small town, a boy in this world.”
― Anthony Shapland, A Room Above a Shop

“That's where he learned. Learned all the things he needed to hide. If he got the wrong ear pierced, if he touched a boy's hair, if he had fingernails, if he looked at his fingernails the wrong way, if he didn't smoke, or didn't smoke a certain way, if he threw funny, ran funny, caught funny, if he drew, if he sang, if he said a word differently, dressed differently, wore a watch on the wrong wrist. If he cried.”
― Anthony Shapland, A Room Above a Shop