... too much brooding, not enough doing.

“1915. The year itself looks sepia and soiled-muddied like its pictures. In the …”

“...with every new manoeuvre, the light was growing dimmer--fading by numbers as…”

“The mud. There are no good similes. Mud must be a Flemish word. Mud was invente…”

“Here was an unknown quantity-a child in breeches with a blue scarf wound around…”