The Shape of Lies Quotes

“We all lie. To ourselves and to each other. We make excuses by referring to our untruths as fibs or white lies, trivialising them as harmless. Or we claim they are necessary to shelter others from hurt. However we try to justify them, whatever their shape or form, they are still lies.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“There are no separate versions of me. I’m a steady, sensible head teacher who also happens to be a thrill-seeking poker player, and I’m good at being both. Then there’s the other part of me – the most important part. I’m a mother and will do everything in my power to keep my children safe and happy. All three of them.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“he was my first love, and the trepidation that constantly threatened to derail us only served to heighten our passion. It was a time of intense emotion, so fierce that I have never experienced anything like it since, and have never wanted to, happy to settle for security and predictability. I feel my eyes flood with tears as I acknowledge that I have chosen to replace the fiery heat I’ve fought shy of in my marriage with the thrill of the poker table. Dominic is a good man, but if ever there was a time to recognise the truth, it’s now, and I have to admit that sometimes I feel stifled. The warm blanket that he wraps around us all sometimes threatens to suffocate me. I began to play poker because I needed to save myself, my marriage, my home and my mother’s home, but now I don’t want to stop. It’s the only time I soar to the heights of excitement that I crave.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“And now this. Scott wants to hurt me – either emotionally, physically or both – and I bang the heel of my hand on the steering wheel. How dare he? If it hadn’t been for Scott and my desire to help him, my life would have been so different.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“was Anna Franklyn by day – a model of decorum – and by night Saskia Peterson – the exciting, sexy, audacious woman I had dreamed of becoming since I was eighteen years old.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“How many of us can look back to the days before we were fully formed emotionally and say that we didn’t make mistakes?”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“Cameron Edmunds’ wife hadn’t been far wrong when she said she thought Jagger might live in a cave. It was actually a cottage, which could have been quite beautiful if the woods surrounding it hadn’t been allowed to encroach on the garden and shroud the building in darkness. The walls and paintwork were stained with green mould through lack of light, and the windows were thick with years of grime. There were old net curtains at the windows, grey with age. There was a dead feel to the place. No vehicle was parked on the weed-covered drive, but that made sense as they had found Jagger’s car in central Manchester. As Tom and Keith got out of the car, the silence struck both of them. The trees masked the sound of nearby roads and Tom would have expected birdsong. And yet there was none. Both men closed their car doors quietly and walked softly up the path to the front door, looking around almost as if they were expecting someone or something to appear from the dense undergrowth.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“But that doesn’t account for the paralysing terror I feel now. I can never explain it to Dominic. The trauma of the moment I became truly spheksophobic was far worse than he could ever imagine. Sadly not everything can be solved by Dominic with a handkerchief and a bit of love and attention. Some things demand so much more, and the thought of the secret mountain I need to climb sneaks up on me. I feel my throat tighten. More lies, more deceit. There are times I can’t wait for it to be over, and at other times I never want it to end.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“Spheksophobia – that’s what fear of wasps is called,’ he’d told”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“I learned to value stability and a life free from uncertainty. Sometimes, though, I strive to free a tiny portion of myself from the confines of a life constrained by the codes of others.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“why he thinks Scott Roberts is dead. Also,”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“two weeks he was waiting for me, barring”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“night eighteen months ago when Jagger”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“have a”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“hurt”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“and assertive? The mother – gentle, loving,”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“and then there’s the Cameron argument. There would have been so many ways”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“She probably made more money massaging his ego than she did massaging any other part of him.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“Deception seems to be something of a forte of mine, and I often wonder whether poker has led me to hide my true self, or whether I am a natural liar.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“Not for the first time, I wonder if everyone’s life is composed of a series of roles, and I am not alone in striving to play each one to the best of my ability.”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies

“There are times when I wish I hadn’t chosen to marry a saint. It’s as if his virtue shines a bright light on my imperfections”
― Rachel Abbott, The Shape of Lies