Hot Stew

by Fiona Mozley

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to Leslie Gardner, Darryl Samaraweera, Angus MacDonald and Jon Curzon at Artellus Ltd.

  Thank you to everyone at Algonquin Books for their continued enthusiasm and hard work, especially Betsy Gleick, Abby Muller and Michael McKenzie.

  Thank you to everyone at John Murray Press, especially Becky Walsh who has supported me throughout the writing of this book, Yassine Belkacemi who has looked after me at public events and Jess Kim who has made sure everything looks good.

  Thank you to early readers and good friends: Alastair Bealby, Veronica Bennett, Francesca Bratton, Sarah Cawthorne, Tim Curtis, Jennie England, Natalie Ferris, Cameron Foote, Robin Foote, Marianne Forrest, Caitlin Girdwood, David Girdwood, Lisa Girdwood, Jeremy Goldberg, Wendy Grace, Sophie Howard, Ian Lea, Nicola McDonald, Celia Moodie, Philippa Morris, Emily Nott, Karl O’Hanlon, Catherine Rogerson-Yarrow, Thomas Rogerson-Yarrow, Nicola Runciman, Helen Spriggs, Alice Taylor, John Weir.

  Love and thanks to my family: Caroline Mozley, Harold Mozley, Olivia Johnson, Neil Johnson and Lily Johnson.

  Most of all, thank you to Megan, who makes it all worthwhile.

  About the Author

  Fiona Mozley was born in East London and raised in York, in the North of England. She studied history at Cambridge and then lived in Buenos Aires and London, working at a literary agency and at a travel center. Her first novel, Elmet, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017. She lives in Edinburgh with her partner and their dog.

  Also by Fiona Mozley

  Elmet

  Published by

  Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

  Post Office Box 2225

  Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225

  a division of

  Workman Publishing

  225 Varick Street

  New York, New York 10014

  © 2021 by Fiona Mozley.

  All rights reserved.

  First published in Great Britain in 2021 by John Murray (Publishers), a Hachette UK company.

  This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA: LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020052564

  eISBN: 978-1-64375-177-1