The Boy in the Smoke Quotes

“Things change. Never act is if situations won't change”
― Maureen Johnson, The Boy in the Smoke

“Eton produced Society's Monsters - everyone knew that. Politicians, mostly, and occasionally people who ran banks and all the other institutions that stole the world's spoils for themselves.”
― Maureen Johnson, The Boy in the Smoke

“Two hours later, Paulina, their housekeeper, pulled up in her car. Her job was to clean the house twice a week, not to drive all the way to the outskirts of Cheltenham to pick up forgotten children. Paulina’s English was poor, and she had little to say to Stephen or the people at the school. She was always kind, though, and greeted him with a Twix bar and a sympathetic manner. Stephen tried to make some conversation on the drive back. He didn’t really speak Polish, but had taken the first two levels of an online, self-teaching course in order to try to communicate with her. She always appreciated his efforts and smiled, though it was a wincing smile that suggested he was destroying her language with the dull edge of his tongue.”
― Maureen Johnson, The Boy in the Smoke

“What you don't realize at the time is that you're not seeing the full picture," "You don't think about the fact that things will change. Things always change.”
― maureen johnson, The Boy in the Smoke