Peter Ackroyd

“Without thought he repeated some words which a boy had once chalked on the blackboard between lessons: 'A lump of coal is…

— Peter Ackroyd

“Truly Time is a vast Denful of Horrour, round about which a Serpent winds and in the winding bites itself by the…

— Peter Ackroyd

“...that Figure so impressd it self upon my Mind that I have been in a manner walking towards it all my Life.…

— Peter Ackroyd

“He walked back to St George's-in-the-East, which in his mind he had now reduced to a number of surfaces against which the…

— Peter Ackroyd

“For when I trace back the years I have liv'd, gathering them up in my Memory, I see what a chequer'd Work…

— Peter Ackroyd

“And across these mean Dwellings of Black Step Lane, where as a Boy I dwell'd for a while, the Shaddowe of my…

— Peter Ackroyd

“I have had so many Dwellings, Nat, that I know these Streets as well as a strowling Beggar: I was born in…

— Peter Ackroyd

“Be informed, also, that this good and savoury Parish is the home of Hectors, Trapanners, Biters who all go under the general…

— Peter Ackroyd

“And I was a Child again, watching the bright World. But the Spell broke when at this Juncture some Gallants jumped from…

— Peter Ackroyd

“He is a Londoner, too, in his writings. In his familiar letters he displays a rambling urban vivacity, a tendency to to…

— Peter Ackroyd

“Then he took the pages, smoothed them with the palm of his hand, and fixed them with pins to the walls. So…

— Peter Ackroyd

“It's difficult to know where to begin, sir.' 'Yes, the beginning is the tricky part. But perhaps there is no beginning, perhaps…

— Peter Ackroyd

“Is Dust immortal then, I ask'd him, so that we may see it blowing through the Centuries? But as Walter gave no…

— Peter Ackroyd

“It has often been said that the more unusual the murder the easier it is to solve, but this is a theory…

— Peter Ackroyd

“Yet, of course, and more especially, the executioners themselves became notorious. The first known public hangman was one Bull, who was followed…

— Peter Ackroyd

“The music of a popular song now came from the radio as Hawksmoor gazed out of the window; and he saw a…

— Peter Ackroyd

“She went downstairs slowly and sat in front of the fire, rocking herself to and fro as she imagined all of the…

— Peter Ackroyd

“Then as we passed down this Passage we were knocked against certain Women of the Town, who gave us Eye-language, since there…

— Peter Ackroyd