Bluebeard's Egg

In theory I can do almost anything; certainly I have been told how. In practice I do as little as possible. I pretend to myself that I would be quite happy in a hermit’s cave, living on gruel, if someone else would make the gruel. Gruel, like so many other things, is beyond me

Theo amazes her, she loves him so much she can barely see him.

Magicians, Christine knew from Lilian’s last birthday party, were a failure with small children, who didn’t see any reason why rabbits shouldn’t come out of hats.