“All night, far above him the light stood guard, slicing the darkness like a sword.” — M.L. Stedman Darkness Copy Share Image
“I warn you, though, he's not the happiest corpse in the morgue. Not much of a talker, Neville Whittnish.” — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“Mind you keep out of the sun, now. Don’t want you spoiling your skin with freckles,” — M.L. Stedman Freckles Copy Share Image
“a lighthouse warns of danger--tells people to keep their distance. She had mistaken it for a place of safety.” — M.L. Stedman Danger Copy Share Image
“When it comes to their kids, parents are all just instinct and hope. And fear.” — M.L. Stedman Child Copy Share Image
“Put right the things you can put right today, and let the ones from back then go.” — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“He struggles to make sense of it--all this love, so bent out of shape, refracted, like light through the lens.” — M.L. Stedman Love Copy Share Image
“But a sliver of un-crossable distance had slipped between them; an invisible, wisp-thin no man's land.” — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“Everything's ruined. Nothing can ever be put right." Tom rested a hand on hers. "We've put things right as well as we… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“The town draws a veil over certain events. This is a small community, where everyone knows that sometimes the contract to forget… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“If the war had taught her anything, it was to take nothing for granted: that it wasn’t safe to put off what… — M.L. Stedman Life Copy Share Image
“I can forgive and forget... it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“Soon enough the days will close over their lives, the grass will grow over their graves, until their story is just an… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“Sometimes, you're the one who strikes it lucky. Sometimes, it's the other poor bastard who's left with the short straw, and you… — M.L. Stedman Irony Copy Share Image
“The smell of the eucalyptus had wafted for miles offshore from Albany, and when the scent faded away he was suddenly sick… — M.L. Stedman Smell Copy Share Image
“Here in a place where there's just wind an waves and light, and the intricate machinery that keeps the flame burning and… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“The oceans never stop ... the wind never finishes. Sometimes it disappears, but only to gather momentum from somewhere else, returning to… — M.L. Stedman Oceans Copy Share Image
“You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“There, all gone, Luce.” And the little girl continued to open and squint shut her eyes. “All gone,” she said eventually. Then,… — M.L. Stedman Little girl Copy Share Image
“There are still more days to travel in this life. And he knows that the man who makes the journey has been… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“Tom tingled at the knowledge that he was the only one to hear any of it: the only living man for the… — M.L. Stedman Gulls Copy Share Image
“The ones ( life-form) to fear the most stay still, unnoticed, their defenses undetected until you trigger them by accident. They make… — M.L. Stedman Fear Copy Share Image
“I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened, like my father did, or… — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“They tried hard to take comfort from the fact that the boys hadn’t died in vain: they had been part of a… — M.L. Stedman Parenting Copy Share Image
“Later, the child climbs down from her mother’s knee and clambers up onto Tom. He holds her wordlessly, trying to imprint everything… — M.L. Stedman Children Copy Share Image
“There are still more days to travel in this life. And he knows that the man who makes the journey has been… — M.L. Stedman End of life Copy Share Image
“He must turn to something solid, because if he didn't, who knew where his mind or his soul could blow away to,… — M.L. Stedman Psychology Copy Share Image
“It astounds him that the tiny life of the girl means more to him than all the millennia before it. He struggles… — M.L. Stedman Desire Copy Share Image
“Tom thought back to the imposing, empty house: to the silence that deadened every room with a subtly different pitch; to the… — M.L. Stedman Death Copy Share Image
“Coming back last time to the house she grew up in, Isabel had been reminded of the darkness that had descended with… — M.L. Stedman Brotherhood Copy Share Image
“Akward, like when a mad aunt starts up about Jesus at the dinner table. As Septimus showed him to the door, the… — M.L. Stedman Dinner table Copy Share Image
“And the stars: the sky gets crowded at night, and it is a bit like watching a clock, seeing the constellations slide… — M.L. Stedman Constancy Copy Share Image
“Then he remembered Ralph's words--"no point in fighting your war over and over until you get it right.” — M.L. Stedman Copy Share Image
“If Tom is to take his leave of the world, he wants to remember the beauty of it, not just the suffering.” — M.L. Stedman Beauty Copy Share Image
