Burnt Shadows

She understands now. The earth has already opened up, disgorged hell. Her neighbour’s daughter is running towards the reptile with a bamboo spear in hand – her grip incorrect

She glides her hand over her shoulder, touches flesh where there should be silk

Her first response is a fear that the fall has torn her mother’s silk kimono. She raises herself off the ground, looks down

She turns her head and sees the spires of Urakami Cathedral, which Konrad is looking up at when he notices a gap open between the clouds. Sunlight streams through, pushing the clouds apart even further

Such a mixture of heaviness and lightness – her limbs suffused with pleasure, exhausted by it, and yet it feels as though there are wings attached to her, on the verge of lifting her off the ground entirely

His grin manages to make the statement sexual rather than sentimental

He suspects she does not fully understand what is promised in that demand, what is already just a single breath away from being inevitable

Frankly the only person worth meeting at Bungle Oh! is Sajjad – if he’s still there. Lovely Muslim boy who works for James. He’s the one who told me that story of the spider in Islam, remember

after the war – in what capacity did you think I was agreeing to go with you, if not as your wife?’ The

This house is far up the slope and though it is hemmed in on three sides by other homes the balcony looks out on to nothing but trees and hills