The Library
by Bella Osborne
(London: Head of Zeus, 2022)
It suits me to be invisible. I hate it when I get noticed and I’m thrown into the spotlight, I’d rather be lost in the white noise of life.
Page 1.
I worry that one day I won’t be able to remember what she sounded like. It’s like she’s slowly being rubbed out.
Page 3.
I’ve no reason to go out. I’m invisible.
Page 5.
I always felt happy when I came to the library. It was a time I had Mum to myself. It was the thing we always did together.
Page 7.
I guess I looked a bit suspicious. I’m more conscious than most that people get twitchy around teenage boys. They think we’re all either on drugs or about to nick stuff.
Page 9.
If spontaneous combustion is real let it happen to me this instant. My head was definitely hot enough to explode.
Page 10.
Books provided a secret door to escape through.
Page 16.
What a Saturday that had been. She’d been mugged. It was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in years.
Page 23.
He likes to talk about the good old days which, to be honest, sound rubbish - no internet, no mobile phones and only four TV channels is not my idea of good.
Page 25.
She was glad of the noise. Most of the time life was quiet.
Page 33.
It was a harsh thing to witness when the chickens went at each other, but it was nature’s way. It was how they agreed who went first at feeding time and who got which roost.
Page 36.
Loneliness had crept up on her like damp seeping into her soul. She often thought about all the times in her life when she had wished for more time and now here she was with oodles of the stuff stretching out before her like t had all been saved up and paid with interest when she needed it least.
Page 37.
Reading helped ease the lack of human contact.
Page 39.
It was a peculiar quirk of polite modern society that without a partner or offspring in your life you were denied that one key comfort that humans require - the need for physical contact.
Page 39.
Their eyes were boring holes in my skull and it prickled.
Page 41.
Invisible people like me don’t usually break cover unless it’s a life or death situation.
Page 43.
I envied the humble hedgehog its ability to hide within itself. My invisibility cloak didn’t seem to work at the library.
Page 44.
When people reached a certain age they seemed fascinated with their ailing health and their misguided belief that others were equally as interested.
Page 50.
Maggie liked caring for things; it gave her a sense of purpose.
Page 51.
She was a keeper of secrets and she recognised the same in others.
Page 59.
She’d found a kindred spirit in the most unlikely place and she was going to hang on to him as if her life depended on it.
Page 65.
It was starting to feel like I’d outgrown a lot of things.
Page 69.
There was something oddly isolating about being surrounded by people and yet completely alone.
Page 74.
There was something reassuring about how she commanded things.
Page 91.
I could cope with the mess, with the lack of money and shoddy financial management but not with broken promises.
Page 101.
All because of our village library Farah had spoken to me. … The library was also my link to Maggie. I had to keep going because I was hoping she was gong to ask me over for Sunday dinner again. And I liked being in the library - there was something familiar and safe about it. And maybe I felt closer to Mum there. I dunno.
Page 102.
It good having things to do.
Page 117.
I liked the idea of me being useful - it was a new concept. Most of the time I feel like a waste of space.
Page 117.
Dad was leaving me too. Not the same way Mum had done; his was a slow painful way to go. The alcohol was chipping pieces of him away. Rubbing him out.
Page 122.
“That’s nature I’m afraid, Tom. It’s neither cruel nor kind just pitilessly indifferent.”
Page 136.
“Breathe in peace and tranquility. Hold it. Breathe out negativity and stress.”
Pages 141-142.
She didn’t want to miss a moment with Tom. He was like a blood transfusion. He gave her the pep she needed to go another week on her own.
Page 156.
He was lost in the no man’s land between the child he was and the man he so longed to be.
Page 162.
“We often think of the oddest, most irrelevant things, at difficult tines. We seek out the little things we can cope with while we process the things we can’t.”
Page 163.
It was a curse of being older, some afternoons she would be beyond tired but two in the morning she’s be bright as a button.
Page 172.
They resumed their reading; each delving into other worlds where they could switch off from being themselves and most importantly avoid the things in the real world they cold dl nothing to alter.
Page 195.
It was thew nicest thing. Being held and comforted by someone.
Page 203.
There should be better words than sorry for when someone has been wrenched form your life.
Page 207.
She loved being busy. It gave her such a buzz to have multiple things that needed her attention.
Page 209.
“Losing someone special is like being given the perfect gift only to have it whisked away from you.”
Page 230.
Watching the small changes in Tom, seeing him grow in confidence and simply spending time with him was a privilege and one she wished she’d been able to experience with River.
Page 230.
It looks weird when someone smiles and they’re upside down.
Page 233.
She watched Tom get off the bus, his posture giving away his mood as it frequently did. Slouched shoulders was not a good sign.
Page 239.
Who needs TV when you’ve got puppies?
Page 247.
Most men Maggie knew were adept at sucking their stomachs in, especially if a young female was in the vicinity.
Page 254.
“I thought all the boys in my class were my friends. And then stuff happened and I realised they weren’t friends, they were just boys in my class.”
Pages 255-256.
“Friends aren’t merely the tumbleweed of faces that roll in and out of your life. Friends are the ones you connect with and who last a lifetime. You’ll pass a million people on your path and just a few will be worth spending tie with.”
Page 256.
In Maggie’s experience the sooner issues were tackled the better. Those left alone festered for a long time, sometimes even a lifetime.
Page 256.
Maggie quite liked it when he behaved like a teenager. He’d had to grow up too fast after losing his mum and everything that had happened recently with his dad, so it was good to see him acting his age.
Page 257.
Children were a gift but a transitory one.
Page 276.
She’d seen his loathing and disgust for his father and she couldn’t bear the thought of him lumping her in the same boat as him.
Page 277.
Maggie wasn’t the rational caring old lady I’d believed her to be; she was an ex-alcoholic who’d given up her son.
Page 279.
You knew where you were with animals - they weren’t suddenly going to surprise you and tip your world upside down. They didn’t pretend to be something they weren’t and because of that they didn’t let you down. Unlike people who did it all the time.
Page 280.
It felt as if everything had gone from being beyond brilliant to turning to crap super fast, like someone had flicked a switch.
Page 280.
Without the connection she’d had with Tom she would likely never have had the renewed yearning to contact River.
Page 287.
It was too upsetting to be reacquainted with what she’d lost.
Page 290.
It seemed there was no particular type for who became addicted to stuff.
Page 311.
There’s a special vibe about the library or maybe it’s the people in it?
Page 321.
If it wasn’t for the library I’d never have met Maggie or got to know Farah … The library had somehow renewed my connection to Mum. When I was there I got little slivers of memories of her. … The library and reading had been our thing and now I was reconnecting with books I was kind of reconnected with her.
Page 321.
Meeting Maggie had changed things. Dad needed a friend like Maggie.
Page 342.
A chance encounter at the library had changed so many tings. … What I’d tot most from the library was my friendship with Maggie. She’d taught me loads about life, about myself and how to fight for what I wanted.
Page 364.
“Books are such an underrated essential. Every gook is a key that unlocks another world, leads us down the path of a different life. … It’s a stark reminder to not take anything in life for granted. You only properly start fighting for something when you realise you’re going to lose it.”
Page 367.