“I lost sixty soldiers under my command.” “Your fault?” I asked. “No, but they were all my responsibility, so… — Jasper Fforde

I’d been so convinced of that particular narrative I never for one moment stopped to reappraise the situation.

No, I don’t want to seem underhand or insulting but Toccata’s a poisonous, untrustworthy, self-serving little reptile – with a severe personality disorder and a disquieting capacity for cannibalism.

It would have been easy to dislike her intensely, but I actually felt nothing for her at all.