The Christmas Menagerie Quotes

“She'd geared herself up, all ready to fight him, expecting him to say there was no way the kennels could be started up again, but instead, he'd made it sound as if he had no concerns about it opening again, provided it was started from new. But who would pay for it? It was bound to be expensive and they'd have Jules breathing down their necks while it was being done. Though rumour had it that he was leaving the district, even though his son had just started in Mum's school, which would be a very good thing, indeed”
― Minna Howard, The Christmas Menagerie

“He might cause more embarrassment by trying to kiss her or something as they went to their cars. If only Esmond were here, she wouldn't be in this predicament, and this wasn't the first time it had happened. Some men seemed to think that they were doing her a favour by offering to sleep with her now she had lost her husband. She needed love, or anyway a warm relationship, for such an intimacy and though she liked David, she hardly knew him, and she did not want to be intimate with him”
― Minna Howard, The Christmas Menagerie

“Amelia thought it best not to ask if her engagement with Dom was over. She was wearing gloves, so she couldn't see if Sophie was still wearing her engagement ring. If she did marry him, she would have to put up with his family, though perhaps if they stayed in Cornwall and she and Dom lived in London, she might not see much of them. But marriage, as she'd discovered when she married Esmond, was not just the love of two people who, left alone, might have a fair chance of living happily ever after together. Instead it meant having to put up with difficult members of their respective families, weaving upset and angst into their relationship”
― Minna Howard, The Christmas Menagerie

“Since Esmond had died, she'd been wary about 'dating'. Having not done it for so long she was unsure what was expected. Two adults, well past their teenage years, could behave as promiscuously as they chose, only she wanted to have love in the mix of seduction, not just a cheap thrill. Was that asking too much?”
― Minna Howard, The Christmas Menagerie