"Mrs. Bhoolabhoy, who had jowls and favored sarees in pastel colors such as salmon pink which emphasized the fairness of her skin, was a martyr to several things, among them, migraine. On the mornings when she kept to her room, work at Smith's Hotel came virtually to a standstill. The slightest percussive sound was more than she was prepared to bear. The hotel was hers, Mr. Bhoolabhoy merely its manager, whom she had married. Mrs. Bhoolabhoy weighed sixteen stone. Her husband was constructed on more meager lines." (Chapter 1, p. 1)

"She showed no interest in any kind of religion, in any kind of hereafter, only in the here and now and in how this might be arranged to her advantage." (Chapter 2, p.18)

"She had a faraway look in her eyes as if looking back into places she's walked in her long-ago shoes." (Chapter 2, p.21)

"He's not capable of sustaining...