Quotes by Sarah Hall

“Ian happened so easily that we always thought it would be simple to extend our family when the time came, ... A couple of years ago, when we turned 40, we decided ‘it’s now or never.’”

“[What does Ian think about this new addition to the family?] Well, he thought we were a little crazy, ... He had this curious grin on his face when we told him. He is quite interested, though, in traveling to Nepal with us.”

“It all stands to reason. Youve got to fish where the fish are.”

“[Pregnancy didn’t occur as easily as they’d hoped, and the couple turned to adoption. Having decided to adopt a Guatemalan child, their paperwork was ready to go. Problems developed when that country’s government had to change some procedures to be in compliance with the Hague Treaty, and those changes led to] an almost total shutdown of the adoptions, ... And so, thinking that we had no time to lose, we went ‘country shopping.’ One of the few options open to us, since we are over 40, was Nepal.”

“I can say it’s been an adventure so far. We’ve learned a lot and met some wonderful people and made some great contacts.”

“They were not just interested in refinement in terms of aesthetic tastes and art collecting, but also refinement in the way that they educated the children.”

“Were trying to tell a broader Frick story than what we tell in Clayton.”

“I think that its cute.”

“The Special Collections Library is the best we have. They have such fascinating things in there.”

That boy may have been born on third base but he sure as shit ain’t scored a triple.

One thing I will say, they often take it better than a man. Pain, that is. Probably the residue of tolerance from when they were all bloody witches and got stoned or burned or drowned for it, eh lad? Never tell your mother I said that, by the way.

You’ve found that there is something that can make you feel, and make you feel present: sex. Not the routine, dusk-and-dawn sex of a trusted, established relationship, but illicit, dangerous sex. Sex that is novel and leaves you sore; that is experienced in the gaps between your mundane, moral life; that is strange and breathless and addictive.

Lipstick never lasted long when they were together; he would always kiss her after she had applied it, as if he liked the smearing viscous sensation. Sometimes she felt sure it was discomposing her that he enjoyed.

The two of you are different now, calmer. There is still sex, occasionally, but is no longer a priority to seduce or be seduced by him.

You’ve been wondering lately when the moment is that somebody is truly lost to you.

In truth, she disliked books. She felt a peculiar disquiet when opening the pages. She had felt it since childhood. She did not know why. Something in the act itself, the immersion, the seclusion, was disturbing. Reading was an affirmation of being alone, of being separate, trapped. Books were like oubliettes. Her preference was for company, the tactile world, atoms.

There are stories told to him only at this time of year. Fantastic, magical stories, the old Hollier in the woods finding only three red berries, which peel back in the night to reveal gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh, Christmas in hot deserts, dust-blown countries, the necklace of tears, and the story of the robin.

This is your first and final chance, your one and only biography.

The world can accommodate your situation, as it accommodates all situations. And your body will keep explaining to you how it all works, this original experiment, this lifelong gift. Your body will keep describing how, for the first time being at least, there is no escape from this particular vessel. These are your atoms. This is your consciousness. These are your experiences--your successes and mistakes. This is your first and final chance, your one and only biography. This is the existential container, the bowl of your lifes soup, wherein something can be made sense of, wherein there is a cure, wherein you are.

A month in and it seemed to CY that he was an explorer summiting the foothill of an a bizarre and primitive island.