Extracts

Miriam gave things to Mokhtar.

My mother and I drove east across the flatlands, along the vast floor of an ancient sea.

I’m aware of him looking at me.

The man hadn’t shown himself for months, but only one person owned that helmet and the red Indian Chief motorbike.

When I hit the bitumen and get that smooth grey rumble going under me everything’s hell different.

Just after 4 a.m. under a starless sky, a man in a well-worn tweed coat and black knit cap crossed Broadway onto Front Street

Bart Harefield loved laughing at them. The ones who thought they had power.

No-one is who they say they are.

The sun was warm on the cow’s back, the day had been mild, and she was making her way into the yard for the afternoon milking.

From the deck of the SS Oceanic, Maisie Porter looked down on the wharf.

I’m standing on the red railway car that sits abandoned next to the barn.

Given our history, Vita, I’m aware you may decide not to read this.

From the ages of four to six, I thought I was a dog.

Miss Frost’s first day at Blue Valley School was a remarkably horrible day.

It was a dark and stormy night.

Evan’s scuffed knuckles, a fetching post-fight shade of eggplant, ledged the steering wheel.

Let’s start with a question, which might be the oldest question of all: Why do certain groups add up to be greater than the sum of their parts, while others add up to be less?

Perfect fall day. That was the problem.

The trees were loaded with fruit, and the peaches were colouring up well.

Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less?

Jonah Hancock’s counting-house is built wedge-shaped and coffered like a ship’s cabin

I have this secret little vocabulary for my husband.

There were predators beyond the wire.

I stand in the doorway of the twins’ room and watch them sleep, peaceful and innocent, through crib slats that remind me of bars on a prison cell.