Fierce Little Thing
Page 31
A startle of truth, as I realized how easy it would be. Obvious, even. Then I wondered what gravity would do with the right story put onto it; those two things together could change everything. I still had you—for a brief moment I had you. Then you squirmed. Then I didn’t have you anymore. Then you were sailing down, past Topsy.
I looked toward Mother as she came through the door. I said, “He pushed Will, Mama. Daddy pushed him off the roof.”
I ran down through the house. I ran across the lawn to the Devil’s Ramble. I ran into the deep woods. I told myself it was out of my hands: you might have caught yourself, or only broken an arm. Daddy might have grabbed you up somehow, and saved you with mouth-to-mouth. I worked my way into the heart of the forest, telling myself that if I didn’t look back, I wouldn’t have to think about my hand letting go. Whatever was to come would come, but as long as I stayed in the forest, it didn’t have to be mine. I could let the story decide.
Acknowledgments
The year 2020 offered extraordinary challenges to finishing a book (this will come as no surprise if you did work of your own in 2020, especially creative work, especially if you live with children). Luckily, I’ve had the support of many wise, generous smart people whose belief in this project gave me the strength to press on. It’s thanks to them that you’re holding this book, but any oversights and faults are entirely my own.
Home is a fiction, but I have Astrea and Al Fatica to thank for opening their land and beautiful cabins so that I could imagine a physical setting for the Unthinged World. Dr. Jesse Dubin gave me invaluable mycological instruction local to the Sebago Lake region of Maine. And Kenneth, Phyllis, and Bruce Forman live on in the legacy of their beautiful home, the place where the idea for this book was born.
I have been blessed with a generous literary community, which includes Emily Raboteau (who read the earliest drafts of this book, and told me this was Saskia’s story); Jessie Chaffee and Amy Wilkinson, whose Zoom check-ins got my butt in the chair; the phenomenal BFG: Kristi Coulter, Claire Dederer, Tova Mirvis, and Joanna Rakoff, who read my draft in record time and helped me reshape it; Stella Fiore and the rest of the Cut + Paste ARIM group (and Lenka Clayton for inventing an Artist Residency in Motherhood—if you’re a creative who is also a mother, look it up!); Siobhan Adcock; Marcy Dermansky; Rachel Fershleiser; Julia Fierro; Tammy Greenwood; Brian Gresko; Leslie Jamison; Nicole C. Kear; Victor LaValle; Amy Shearn; Robin Wasserman; and countless others who have offered support, guidance, and advice, in person and online.
Special thanks to all those who provided shelter as I wrote, including Madhavi, Hormuz, Zahaan, and Cyrus Batliboi; Amy Ben-Ezra and Farnsworth Lobenstine; and Sophie McNeill and her family. And there’s simply no way this book would have been finished without the Chanoffs—Liisa, David, and all the rest—who gave us a haven in magical, seaside Loveladies for three months, at the drop of a hat, at the beginning of a global pandemic.
Anne Hawkins has been an amazing agent for, what is it, almost twenty years? How did that happen? Moses Cardona helped me so much when I had no access to my papers. Since working with Christine Kopprasch on Bittersweet, it has been my dream to build a whole book with her. She made the experience as fantastic as I knew it would be. Thank you to the entire Flatiron crew, including (but not limited to): Megan Lynch, Caroline Bleeke, Maxine Charles, Cat Kenney, Bob Miller, John Morrone, Jason Reigal, Nancy Trypuc, and Samantha Zukergood. I appreciate every moment you’ve given to this book.
Thank you to Steve Koski for teaching me the songs the Homesteaders sing. Thank you to those of you who were raised communally and have shared your tales over the years. Thank you to Rosanna Murray for keeping me safe and sane. Thank you to all the women who kept me aloft through this turbulent time, too many to count, most of them mothers (what would we do without the mothers who save us, day in, day out?). Thank you to my children’s many teachers, for all that you do, every single day. And to Maia Davis, who has awed me with her tireless work ethic and compassionate care: I love you.
And finally, to my quaranteam(s)—shelter in the storm; readers and researchers; childcare providers; cheerers-on; cooks; and always the reason to keep showing up: Molly and Annikki Chanoff; Amy March; Elizabeth Beverly and Rob Whittemore; and Kai Beverly-Whittemore and Artemis, Eon and Rubidium Wu. And last but not least, David, Kitsune and Quentin Lobenstine, who are strong, brave, kind, and smart, and who make me laugh every single day.
Sources
Angier, Bradford. How to Eat in the Woods. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2016.
Hoffman, Claire. Greetings from Utopia Park. New York: HarperCollins, 2016.
Marrone, Teresa and Walt Sturgeon. Mushrooms of the Northeast. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, 2016.
The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region. New York: Knopf, 1994.
Penniman, Leah. Farming While Black. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018.
Pritchard, Forrest and Ellen Polishuk. Start Your Farm. New York: The Experiment, 2018.
Seymour, Tom. Wild Plants of Maine. Topsham, ME: Just Write Books, 2010.
Stout, Martha. The Sociopath Next Door. New York: Harmony Books, 2005.
Sundeen, Mark. The Unsettlers. New York: Riverhead, 2016.
Also by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
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Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels, including Bittersweet and June.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
First
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
> Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Last
Acknowledgments
Sources
Also by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
FIERCE LITTLE THING. Copyright © 2020 by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. All rights reserved. For information, address Flatiron Books, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.flatironbooks.com
Cover design by Lauren Harms
Cover photograph: Leonardo Patrizi / Getty Images
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Beverly-Whittemore, Miranda, author.
Title: Fierce little thing / Miranda Beverly-Whittemore.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY: Flatiron Books, 2021 |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021002109 | ISBN 9781250779427 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250779434 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3602.E845 F54 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002109
eISBN 9781250779434
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First Edition: 2021