People of Abandoned Character Quotes

“The better classes tended to talk of money as if there was a finite amount of it, as if it were a cake. They had their slice and didn’t want to part with it. But they kept adding extra slices to their plate, using their first portion to justify why they were entitled to a second, and a third. Before long, the original cake was twice the size – a celebration cake! what a triumph to be British! – and yet the rest of us were still waiting obediently for a single piece.”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character

“I could not imagine what unhygienic horrors lay beneath those skirts; it was a wonder they managed to trap any man for business. Surely only a blind or suicidal drunk would be tempted to part with actual money for their services.”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character

“But only the rich, the criminal or the criminally insane thrived in London.”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character

“Death, to those left behind, does not mean the end but a new beginning. We must forge a new path, over muddy tracks and hard ground…”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character

“No one will think anything, Alma. It’s an empty room, remember – you said so yourself.’ I began to sit cross-legged at his feet so as to listen to his operatic flourishes. Soon I was running to meet him when he came home, then crawling up onto his lap so I could see the words on the page. I still didn’t say much, and I was mute with all strangers and continued to hide my face in my grandmother’s skirts. We were sat this way one afternoon when there was a tap at the window that startled us both. We looked, but there was nothing there. It sounded like something had been thrown at it, so my grandfather told me to stay inside while he went out to investigate. When he came back, he was carrying a tiny bird in his hands. ‘It’s a little dunnock, Susannah. He must have got himself confused, or scared, chased by a sparrowhawk maybe, and flown into the glass. He’s only stunned himself. We’ll find him a box and keep him warm, see if he comes to.’ The bird looked dead to me, but my grandfather lined an old box with straw, placed the tiny bird inside and closed the lid. ‘We need to remove him from all the terrors of the world for a while, let his little body recover. You know, it’s a very good thing for an animal to hide if he’s injured or in danger. All the clever animals do it. He crawls into the tiniest space he can find and makes his world very small. It’s a natural thing, when you’re very scared, to make your world very small indeed. The trick is to understand when the danger is gone, to be very brave and let the world be big again, or else there may as well be no world at all.”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character

“They are simply not well bred,' said a woman who appeared to be missing a chin, her lower jaw an apathetic bridge to her neck. All those generations of good breeding had bred out the ability to fold a tablecloth, but then if you never had to fold your own, what use was a chin?”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character

“It really was better to be ignorant of something than to be painfully conscious of what I lacked. I was happier when I didn't understand I was lonely; now I was bereft. pg 39”
― Clare Whitfield, People of Abandoned Character