I settled in with The Uninvited Guests thinking I knew what kind of Edwardian pleasures were in store: the fraught dinner party in an endangered, rambling house, the feuding family, the rich suitor, the disruptive visitors. The novel has all… — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“She craved a family, not having had enough of one to understand what a pain in the ass it was.” — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“He held his hands tightly together and cursed his daughter for bringing the terrible world, with its humiliation and longing, back to his door.” — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
When they started to drain a swamp where birds and fish had lived, for a new housing development down the road from his apartment, Steven watched the protests and the preparations with interest. The bird people were furious, the developers unmovable, and Steven was filled with relief that the fight wasn't his. Nothing here was his... He thought there should… — Maile Meloy Copy Share
“It takes experience to know what is a catastrophe (Richard Hughes, 'A High Wind in Jamaica'),” — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“Civilization, her mother had told her since she was small, was a series of agreements about what was good for everyone, enforced by law.… — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
To be a kid is to be invisible and to listen, and to interpret things that aren't necessarily meant for you to hear--because how… — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“All the while, Everett felt both the threat of disorder and the steady, thrumming promise of having everything he wanted, all at once.” — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“We're creating little hedonists,' Frank used to say. 'Nothing will be as pleasurable as this for the rest of their lives. They'll search everywhere… — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“Benjamin called it “estro-lock,” the way the two women could talk for hours and lose track of time. They ended up in conversation across… — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
“Whenever we tamper with natural laws, there are consequences,” the count said. “The larger the disruption, the larger the consequence.” — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
His heart felt dangerously full, for the first time in years. That dried-up battered organ, suddenly flush with love. It could kill him. — Maile Meloy Copy Share Image
