RUTH: I’d like you to forgive me, - I don’t expect you to - for keeping you and Tommy apart. Should have been you two together, I always knew it. As far back as I can remember. It wasn’t just because of the rumors about deferrals. It was because I was jealous. You had real love and I didn’t, and I didn’t want to be the one that was left alone. It’s the worst thing I ever did. And now I want to put it right.
BRIONY: And I was never able to put things right with my sister, Cecilia, because she was killed on the 15th of October, 1940, by the bomb that destroyed the gas and water mains above Balham tube station. My sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for, and deserved (…) So, in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I’d like to think this isn’t weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness.I’m just saying :)
