William Boyd (writer)

"Actually I cant stand the man. Sanctimonious, Calvinistic, so-and-so. Totally unsympathetic — cant think why he became a doctor — hectoring, bullying — sort of moral storm-trooper."

"Morgan liked to imagine the town as some immense yeast culture, left in a deep cupboard by an absentminded lab technician, festering uncontrolled, running rampant in the ideal growing conditions."

"My first act on entering this world was to kill my mother."

"Cant you keep this bloody place tidy?"

"I want you to get to know Murray because I want you to bribe him."

"There are so many hypochondriacs out here. I think Murray can spot them a mile off."

"Thats Africa for you, eh? Trouble-free sex and tranquillizers. What do they call it? Post-pill paradise or something. Load of nonsense. Never seen a more neurotic, glum bunch in my life."

"He saw that she treated her marriage to his father as a relentless challenge, an unending struggle under adverse conditions to get her own way. At first this manifested itself only in the naming of her children, but lately, as she had come to know her enemy, or as he had grown more senile and eccentric, evidence of her own personality long-suppressed came increasingly to the fore."

"It was a long journey back to Walters farm, which lay near the foot of Kilimanjaro in British East Africa. First there was the coastal steamer from Dar to Tanga, and then a days journey from Tanga to Moshi on the Northern Railway, followed by a further days wagon ride across the border to B.E.A. and his won farm near the small town and former mission station of Taveta."

"I know he never loved me, but that, as far as I am concerned, is of little importance. He did not love me because, quite simply, I was a constant reminder of his loss."

"I have no idea why he did not like me. Normally, with an age gap of six years, an older brother will treat a younger with fond enthusiasm - a favorite sidekick, an instant fan, almost like a pet - but Thompsons attitudes then, as far as I remember, were either indifference or irritation."

"Dear Faye, I feel a little fitter today. Perhaps everything will be fine after all ..."