She rolls her eyes. ‘Yes, Mum,’
‘How are you getting there?’
‘We can go the short way or the long way. If we go the short way, we’re to be extra careful when we cross the road.’
‘Good girl,’ I say, but before the words are spoken she has turned and run after her friends who have seen her and are waiting. I watch her catch up with them at the door. She and Willow are chatting to each other as they go in. Betty is smiling. I wait to see if she will turn and wave to me before they disappear inside. She doesn’t.
Acknowledgements
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the help of an award from the Arts Council England, which came at a vital stage in the writing and research of this book. During that period, I was lucky enough to undertake a residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, still the perfect place to write a novel. I would like to thank Inspector Andy Nelson and Superintendent Raj Kohli of the Metropolitan Police for their help with research, along with Georgina Field and Dr Brigid Shepperd for advice on all things medical. Sarah Savitt, Antony Harwood, Jacqui Lofthouse, Laurence Chester, Dorothy Crossan and Jane Hodges were kind enough to read the manuscript and offer suggestions. Any mistakes are entirely my responsibility.
L. D.
About the Author
Louise Doughty is the author of five novels – Crazy Paving, Dance with Me, Honey-Dew, Fires in the Dark and Stone Cradle – and one book of non-fiction, A Novel in a Year, based on her hugely popular Daily Telegraph column. Doughty also writes radio plays and journalism, and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 4, as well as teaching for the Faber Academy. She lives in London.
By the Same Author
fiction
STONE CRADLE
FIRES IN THE DARK
HONEY-DEW
DANCE WITH ME
CRAZY PAVING
non-fiction
Copyright
First published in 2010
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2010
All rights reserved
© Louise Doughty, 2010
The right of Louise Doughty to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–25477–4