Colleen McCullough

The Thorn Birds

Emma Hak-Kovacs

At the beginning of each day he willed himself not to die, and at the end of each day he laughed in triumph to find himself still alive.

Frank put his cup on the table and went out to feed the dogs, wishing he could weep, or commit murder. Anything which might banish the pain.

‘You might in all truth say that I’ve known Meggie through flood and fire and emotional famine, and through death, and life. All that we have to bear. Meggie is the mirror in which I’m forced to review my mortality.’

Her mouth, no longer an unwanted, unwelcome memory but real; her arms about him as if she couldn’t bear to let him go; the way she seemed to lose even the feel of her bones; how dark she was like the night, tangled memory and desire, unwanted memory and unwelcome desire.

Never in all her life had Justine been so conscious of the redundancy of women in the lives of some men as at that moment, walking into a world where women simply had no place except as humble nun servants.

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