If it wasn’t for the fact that I have colleagues, office life would be bearable. That day, however, even more than usual, I had a catalog of annoyances and irritations with which to contend.”
-- Susan (Chapter 1)

Importance: After Susan finds out that her mother has died, she goes to work as usual. She is proud of herself for not letting her emotions show. She does not realize that she is transferring her sadness into annoyance.

Perhaps, more than that, it derives from the stirring up of memories of a past that I’d much rather forget. I have the terrifying sensation that my carefully constructed life in London is simply the dream of an unhappy girl, a dream from which I’m about to be woken.
-- Susan (Chapter 3)

Importance: Whenever Susan goes back home to Birmingham, she feels a distinct sense of disquiet. It is the town where she grew up in, and as such...