Jane Rogers   "Mr Wroe's Virgins"
================================
London: Faber & Faber 1991.
HW LIB.


p.23/4:
[NP] Hannah has asked me about the history of the church. It gives me pleasure
to (* CAST MY MIND BACK,*) for that (* SWEEP OF MEMORY RETRIEVES MANY INCIDENTS
AND MOMENTS *) ...

p.35:
[NP] There is a silence while he still looks at me. I cannot tell what is (* IN
HIS MIND.*)

p.38:
[NP] I could not sleep that night, although there were no thoughts that kept me
awake. No plots, no plans, no fears that I can name. Rather, (* A DULLNESS.*) A
kind of (* DARKNESS INSIDE MYSELF.*)

p.49:
[NP] They believe the world will end --- very soon. This was always Brothers'
belief --- and indeed my father's. Ironically enough, that terrible thought (*
COMES TO ME NOW AS A SAFE OLD FRIEND.*) My father's (* BELIEFS ARE STILL PART
OF ME,*) not as (* SPIRITUAL EQUIPMENT *) but as the (* SOLID BRICKS OF
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE.*)

p.88: 
The Prophet (* HIMSELF INTRUDES INTO MY THOUGHTS *) increasingly. ... [NP] ...
Two incidents particularly have (* STAYED IN MY MIND,*) this week, and lead me
to puzzle over his beliefs and intentions.

p.91:
She laughs and shrugs, as if to (* SHAKE OFF GLOOMY THOUGHTS.*)

p.101:
[NP] For a moment I was tempted to laugh with her [Joanna], and dismiss the
thing as a fantasy. But a couple of incidents with Martha (* REARED UP SO
STRONGLY IN MY MEMORY.*)

p.114:
[NP] I see the earth. When I bend, I see small moist grains sticking ...
[NP] (* MY MIND IS FILLED WITH THE GRAIN OF EARTH,*) I cannot move.

p.123:
But I believe I could welcome the thought of such approaching danger, could I
but (* CONQUER MY DOUBT.*) This is my (* MOST PRESSING FEAR *)---that doubt
about the first origin of my dream. (* COULD IT NOT HAVE BEEN PLACED IN MY
THOUGHTS *) as easily by Satan as by God?

p.126: 
[NP] (* I MUST TURN MY THOUGHTS FORWARD, AWAY FROM THIS SAD PAIN.*) Let me
imagine; let me dare to imagine, now, the outcome. That I may feel the child
quicken in my belly, ...

p.136:
[NP] I have read and reread Edward's letter. ... (* I CAN SEE HIM,*) waking
before dawn, setting out with his bag of tools ...

p.144:
[NP] Although (* IT HAD BEEN IN MY MIND TO OFFER,*) I had certainly not
intended to do so that night; but once (* SHE HAD HOLD OF THE IDEA SHE WOULD
NOT LET GO,*) and worried and teased me until I did agree.

p.150:
I know (* THE SAME THOUGHT WAS IN BOTH OUR HEADS.*)

p.197:
[NP] I am not with child. There can be (* NO DOUBT LEFT IN MY MIND *) that this
is my monthly women's courses.

p.197: 
This will be done, oh Lord, though it involve (* THE BREAKING OF MY
HEART AND MY HOPES,*) ...

p.197:
... ---teach me acceptance, I pray You, that the (* PIERCING REGRETS AND TERRORS
IN MY HEART *) may be (* QUIETED.*) [EP]

p.203:
[NP] I sit waiting on my bed. (* A PART OF ME IS GLAD *) I have waited so long,
for I sense now that I cannot fail; ...

p.215:
[NP] `But what were the effects? [ital]_Were_ there many converts?'
[NP] `(* WE PLANTED A SEED; AN IDEA. WHERE IT FELL ON FERTILE SOIL, IT WILL HAVE
GROWN.*) ...'

p.221: 
... but I could not (* QUELL MY SENSE OF AGITATION *) at our situation. In what
was it strange? What more natural than that Mr Wroe ... should offer to bring
me home? ... {one sentence} ... But (* THE STRANGENESS *..) of us being in such
a place together (..* SWAM BEFORE ME *) continually, and when he knocked firmly
on the bedchamber door I nearly jumped out of my skin.[EP]

p.226:
At that moment I think (* I HALF BELIEVED---I HALF HOPED *)---to see [the town
of Ashton] disintegrate before my eyes, to see his Day of Judgment really
arrived.

p.234:
They know it is not impossible. (* IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN SOME OF THEIR MINDS.*)

p.236:
[NP] I cannot (* GATHER MY TUMULTUOUS THOUGHTS INTO ANY SORT OF ORDER.*) The
effects of these revelations upon the church ... Our future in the Prophets'
household ... The Prophet's own future ... (* CIRCLE SICKENINGLY IN MY HEAD,*)
each question leading only to further questions.[EP]

p.249:
[NP] Joanna and Mr. Wroe. Mr. Wroe and Joanna. Still (* A FACT, LODGED LIKE A
LUMP OF FOOD IN MY GULLET; IT WINDS ME, BUT I CAN NEITHER CHOKE IT UP TO TASTE,
NOR SWALLOW IT DOWN TO DIGEST IT.*)[EP]

p.249: 
In the kitchen the burning peat smells like smokey bacon, suddenly (* MEMORY
IMPRINTS ITSELF ON MY VISION, AND THE TEMPLATE OF PAST LOSS FITS SO EXACTLY ON
THE PRESENT *) (ironic that it should be bacon, peat---the latter unknown in my
previous existence, the fomer unknown in my present) that I cannot move.

p.257:
This allegation baffles me completely until (* I FORCE MY MEMORY BACK, ALONG
THE WINDING LANES *..) of those sudden ups and downs of happiness and despair,
(..* BACK TO THE AFTERNOON *) I am still embarrassed to recall, ...

p.259:
It is possible to imagine (* A MIND WHICH CONTAINS CONTRARIES: IN WHICH THE
MOST DEEP-SEATED DESIRES ARE LOCKED IN CONFLICT.*) My father, for example, who
both wished to keep me, and wished me to be free. ... [T]he effect of (* THESE
CONTRADICTIONS RUBBING TOGETHER *) daily, nightly, was to (* PRODUCE A POISON
*) of paralysing power.

p.262:
And I can already see ... that she is in need of a companion who will stand up
to her, and (* GUIDE HER AWAY FROM SOME OF THESE IMPETUOUS DECISIONS *) she is
prone to making. She seems to (* GRASP IDEAS SO QUICKLY AND LIGHTLY *) that I
tell myself I am dull-witted; and yet, many a time, she lacks the stamina to (*
BRING THEM OUT TO THEIR LOGICAL CONCLUSION.*)

p.270:
Night and day I am beset by intimations of the end---it is close
now. ... through (* EROSION OF MY HAPPINESS AND SELF-INTEREST *) I have come to
a state where (* THE GROSSER DELUSIONS FALL FROM MY EYES, AND THE INNER TRUTH
BECOMES CLEAR TO MY VISION.*) I do not sleep, for at night the silence and
darkness (* BRING ME CLOSER IN KNOWLEDGE TO His AWFUL POWER,*) ...

p.270: 
[NP] (* THE LID OF MY CONSCIOUSNESS HAS BECOME THINNER,*) thanks to my
trials. I now begin to (* SEE BEYOND MY FORMER DAILY PERCEPTIONS,*) of a closed
material world. Gleams and flashes come to me: the close sense of great
movement in the world just beyond our own, (* THE SENSE OF His Presence and
Intention HOVERING, FOCUSED, ABOVE US---ALMOST, I MAY SAY, LIKE A CLOUD.*..)
Yes, like a cloud, (..* WHICH GATHERS SLOWLY AND THICKENS, BLOTTING OUT THE
LIGHT OF THE SUN WITH ITS INTENTION, WITH THE MOIST DEPOSIT FOR EARTH THAT IT
CONTAINS.