“Surplus meant unnecessary. Not required.You couldn’t be a Surplus if you were needed by someone else. You couldn’t be a Surplus if you were loved.”

“I love you Anna Covey,’ he said, his voice barely audible. And slowly, clumsily, he leant forward, and his lips found hers, and Anna felt him kiss her awkwardly, she knew that she wasn’t a Surplus any more. And nor was Peter.”

“Institutionalized rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people.”