The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.

He was in that headstrong teenage phase when he felt like he knew everything.

This horse (a slang term for prison officers who smuggle contraband into the institution) was probably able to stay in business for such a long time because he only packed for powerful, trustworthy prisoners […]

There were ornamental ponds and shrubs clipped into animal shapes, painted concrete gnomes sitting on mushrooms, pink flamingos standing on one leg[.]