Pat Barker

Quotes

1. But [Tom] was used to switching off, to living his life in separate compartments.

2. 

   But sir, certainly, there isn't any proof as to my guilt...

3. 

   It was extraordinarily distracting: this feeling of a pivotal moment in his own life being played out in front of an uninvited audience.

4. 

   The man needs to learn how to controll his anger, he is crossing a border here, and he has no right

5. 

   I don't know why I killed her, I didn't know then and I don't know now. And I don't know how to live with it.

6. 

   ...he'd seen the boy's [Danny's] body hang suspended... an umbilical cord of silver bubbles linking his slack mouth to the air.

7. 

   [Tom] was less than halfway across the causeway when the mist thickened.

8. 

   [Danny] was very, very good at getting people to step across that invisible border. Lambs to the slaughter.

9. 

   I thought he was one of the most dangerous boys we've ever had through the school.

10. 

    The forensic evidence for Danny's guilt was overwhelming, but he was a good liar.

11. 

    You wring a chicken's neck, you don't expect to find it running round the yard next morning, do you?

12. 

    ...the horror of the images impossible to connect with the child he'd just left.