Rupert Thomson

“The sun snagged on his crooked skin.”

— Rupert Thomson

“Her smiles were blurred, as if seen from a moving train. Her eyes always creased at the edges by dreams of leaving.”

— Rupert Thomson

“She looked the way a rose petal looks when you crush it between finger and thumb.”

— Rupert Thomson

“He looked both proud and guilty of something. As if happiness was a reward and he wasn't sure he'd done enough to…

— Rupert Thomson

“There's love and everybody talks about it, but not all of us come close to it - or, if we do, it's…

— Rupert Thomson

“The fig tree had dropped its fruit all over the ground. Ripe figs lay in the dust, exploded, bloody, as if the…

— Rupert Thomson

“That's what birthdays were. Days when you found out where you stood. Who was on your side and who wasn't. Nothing to…

— Rupert Thomson

“You have to do normal things or they don't go away. You have to reassure them. Or they just stand there staring…

— Rupert Thomson

“He'd learned something. Life was booby-trapped and there was no easy passage through. You had to jump from colour to colour, from…

— Rupert Thomson

“At first he didn't know where he was, whose voice it was. He must have been asleep. And waking suddenly, like that,…

— Rupert Thomson

“His anger was still there, and he used it to break into her. He liked the way her eyes widened in alarm,…

— Rupert Thomson

“Jed was used to isolation. His face was like some kind of cul-de-sac. It said NO THROUGH ROAD to most people. Confronted…

— Rupert Thomson

“He was dropped under a streetlamp, the only person left on the bus. A patch of mauled light. Gritty pavement, scarred with…

— Rupert Thomson

“The earthquakes in people's heads, half the city's population was cracked, a rabble of doom-merchants, psychos, ghouls. They could smell a funeral…

— Rupert Thomson

“It was as if Jed had moved from one dimension to another. His original dimension hadn't reported him missing, and his new…

— Rupert Thomson

“He thought of his old tapes, the ones he'd had for years, the ones he'd used over and over again. Their silence…

— Rupert Thomson

“You must tell me about it when you do,' she said. 'When you make love for the first time, I mean. I…

— Rupert Thomson

“Jed thought he understood. It was like when his radios were thrown away. You could shrug your shoulders, put on a face…

— Rupert Thomson

“He woke early the next morning. It was still cool, but he opened the window and, leaning on the ledge, looked down…

— Rupert Thomson

“It was six hours to Hosannah Beach and he didn't glance at the silver coin that Dad had given him, not even…

— Rupert Thomson

“Sometimes it seemed as if he'd always been very old. People said that time lasted for ever when you were young. That…

— Rupert Thomson

“Vasco lived in Mangrove Heights, on a bluff overlooking the river. The first time Jed saw the house, he couldn't help thinking…

— Rupert Thomson

“She was someone who heard each grain in the hour-glass, she felt the passing seconds like sandpaper against her softest skin. Time…

— Rupert Thomson

“Vasco bought a bottle of vodka to celebrate and they drank it in the old sailors' graveyard in Mangrove South. This was…

— Rupert Thomson

“While still practising law, he'd run a hearse-rental agency. Then, later, he'd bought into a handkerchief factory in Baker Park. Their most…

— Rupert Thomson

“Did I tell you about Anton?" Loots said. Anton?" I shook my head. It was a week ago, Loots said. There had…

— Rupert Thomson

“The plane banked, and he pressed his face against the cold window. The ocean tilted up to meet him, its dark surface…

— Rupert Thomson

“This would have once been a place for contemplation. He looked up at the towers surrounding him. Many of the dead bodies…

— Rupert Thomson

“The strong man lit a cigarette. It looked too frail for his hand. They looked like King Kong and Fay Wray, that…

— Rupert Thomson