Clergyman's

But listen to this,"" Kathleen laughed and wheezed. ""We had been talking about books. He tells me he reads a lot - as a matter of fact he's book mad - and when I came in with the tea I said 'Do you like Earl Grey?' and he says, 'I don't know. What did he write?' Isn't that marvellous?"" Mary smiled and nodded while Kathleen giggled uncontrollably.
- Bernard MacLaverty

A thing that really took his breath away was Norman Foster's roof over the Great Court at the British Museum - the audacity and brilliance of it. The approach inside the building from a periphery of darkness into the thrilling light at its centre - the largest covered square in Europe - was utterly wonderful.
- Bernard MacLaverty

A summer insect flew into the metal dome of the Anglepoise and knocked around like a tiny knuckle.
- Bernard MacLaverty

It concentrates the mind wonderfully knowing that this is all we can expect.
- Bernard MacLaverty

A summer insect flew into the metal dome of the Anglepoise and knocked around like a tiny knuckle.
- Bernard MacLaverty

It concentrates the mind wonderfully knowing that this is all we can expect.
- Bernard MacLaverty

She rummaged in her bag and produced a postcard she'd bought in the museum shop. Old Woman Reading. It was not the painting she had seen but a different one. When she'd asked for the postcard the assistant had shrugged and said they were out of it. There are many old women reading, she said.
The assistant had offered her another, even better, card. An old woman, cowled in some dark material, looking down at a book. It was so lovely - the concentration in the eyes, the luminescence of the ancient face reflected from the page, the interior light from reading whatever was printed there.
- Bernard MacLaverty

An earthquake in one department created tidal waves in others.
- Bernard MacLaverty

You know how vivid things are in extremis. There's something going on in the brain. Chemicals. They make the moment indelible.
- Bernard MacLaverty

You know how vivid things are in extremis. There's something going on in the brain. Chemicals. They make the moment indelible.
- Bernard MacLaverty