During all his time at the office, Dadda had never yet been into a public-house in that district, and it was Solly who suggested The Grapes, a solid late-Victorian establishment whose great expanses of mirrors...

Solly looked round the office. ‘You have done well here, Benno.’ ‘I have survived.’ ‘I meant that. The worst is over now?’ Dadda nodded. ‘I think so. It has been bad, and now it is...

‘Shut up! Will you not shut up, or am I to beat the devil out of both of you? Whatever you get, you want more! Do you think I’ll take you to the pictures again?...

‘But it is true,’ he said; ‘and you must not be rude to your elders.’ He looked at her for a moment and, with satisfaction, identified her as a newcomer whose name he could remember....

Mamma said: ‘Isn’t it lovely, Anna? Have you thanked Solly?’ Anna turned round. She was smiling and I think the smile deceived the two adults; Solly, at any rate. It did not deceive me. I...

Another thing that summer was Anna’s doll’s house. It was while she was still in hospital that my accident occurred, and Solly took over from Mamma the duty of visiting her. The first afternoon he...

The extra expense caused by Anna’s illness and my own was enough to be a sharp irritant, but was not crippling. Dadda worked harder, and the little business continued to float in the turbulent waters...

The food had been eaten, and there were cries for a speech from the groom. Isaak, when it had been made clear to him what was required, stood up. He looked around the mass of...

Sean O’Connell and Victor Wilkins took to the free drink as Mamma had said they would and began to shout remarks which were indelicate, with the promise of leading to even worse. Jinny rose in...

I suppose this sense of reassurance may have contributed to making me think of Jinny’s wedding as such a wonderful affair. It helped that we were unused to rich food, too; at home there was...