When Will There Be Good News?

When Will There Be Good News?

by

Kate Atkinson

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on When Will There Be Good News? makes teaching easy.

Howard Mason Character Analysis

Howard Mason, a novelist, was married to Gabrielle and is the father to Joanna, Jessica, and Joseph. He moves his family to rural Devon because he wants a place to write, then abandons them there and moves in with his poet girlfriend, Martina. After Gabrielle and two of his children are murdered, Howard ultimately marries four more times and becomes better known for his series of dead wives than for his writing, which doesn’t stand the test of time. He dies in Brazil, and Joanna reads about it in the newspaper. Though Joanna lived with him and Martina for a while as a child, Howard never loved her.

Howard Mason Quotes in When Will There Be Good News?

The When Will There Be Good News? quotes below are all either spoken by Howard Mason or refer to Howard Mason. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Trauma, Survival, and Reckoning with the Past Theme Icon
).
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Quotes

Andrew Decker didn’t destroy his own family, he destroyed someone else’s. He destroyed Howard Mason’s. Men like Decker were inadequates, they were loners, maybe they just couldn’t stand to see people enjoying the lives they never had. A mother and her children, wasn’t that the bond at the heart of everything?

Hide or run? Louise hoped she would stand and fight. If you were on your own, you could fight, if you were on your own, you could run. You couldn’t do either when you were with children. You could try. Gabrielle Mason had tried, her hands and arms were covered in defensive wounds where she had tried to stave off Andrew Decker’s knife.

Related Characters: Louise Monroe, Gabrielle Mason, Howard Mason, Andrew Decker
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
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When Will There Be Good News? PDF

Howard Mason Quotes in When Will There Be Good News?

The When Will There Be Good News? quotes below are all either spoken by Howard Mason or refer to Howard Mason. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Trauma, Survival, and Reckoning with the Past Theme Icon
).
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Quotes

Andrew Decker didn’t destroy his own family, he destroyed someone else’s. He destroyed Howard Mason’s. Men like Decker were inadequates, they were loners, maybe they just couldn’t stand to see people enjoying the lives they never had. A mother and her children, wasn’t that the bond at the heart of everything?

Hide or run? Louise hoped she would stand and fight. If you were on your own, you could fight, if you were on your own, you could run. You couldn’t do either when you were with children. You could try. Gabrielle Mason had tried, her hands and arms were covered in defensive wounds where she had tried to stave off Andrew Decker’s knife.

Related Characters: Louise Monroe, Gabrielle Mason, Howard Mason, Andrew Decker
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis: