“But I’m sick of this bloody jagged graph. You know, two steps up, one step down. It’s so painful. It’s so slow. It’s like this endless game of snakes and ladders.” And Mum just looked at me as if she wanted to laugh or maybe cry, and said, “But Audrey, that’s what life is. We’re all on a jagged graph. I know I am. Up a bit, down a bit. That’s life.”

“But I’m sick of this bloody jagged graph. You know, two steps up, one step down. It’s so painful. It’s so slow. It’s like this endless game of snakes and ladders.” And Mum just looked at me as if she wanted to laugh or maybe cry, and said, “But Audrey, that’s what life is. We’re all on a jagged graph. I know I am. Up a bit, down a bit. That’s life.”

— Sophie Kinsella