No Man's Woman; Nobody's Child

"I could see in a flash the extreme pleasure I'd taken in being related to no one.

"I'd actually managed to feel superior about my isolation, I was subtle about it but I could see that I'd turned it into a form of self-congratulation.

"I wasn't the common product of the middle class. I wasn't a party to any convoluted drama. The feuds, the unspoken alliances, secret agreements and petty tyrannies.

"Of course, I wasn't a party to the good stuff either."

- Sue Grafton, J is for Judgment