Bitter Orange

by Bitter Orange (retail) (epub)

  Praise for Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

  “Claire Fuller is such an elegant writer and this book is incredibly atmospheric, vivid, and intriguing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t reading a forgotten classic.”

  —EMMA HEALEY, author of Elizabeth is Missing

  “Like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Bitter Orange sings, enchants, haunts. If not for Claire Fuller’s stunning language and mastery of control, I’d have succumbed to the temptation to blaze through these pages just to see how the suspense resolves. A beautiful novel.”

  —DANIEL MAGARIEL, author of One of the Boys

  “Bitter Orange is a twisty, thorny, darkly atmospheric page-turner about loneliness and belonging, a book that delves into its protagonist’s mind and heart even as she explores the secret-filled mansion at the novel’s center.”

  —GABRIEL TALLENT, author of My Absolute Darling

  “Extraordinarily smart and psychologically shrewd . . . You will be kept guessing until the final penetrating sentence.”

  —PAULA McLAIN, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

  “A deeply moving read, with a mystery that keeps you turning pages.”

  —OPRAH.COM, Editor’s Pick

  “Delicious! Claire Fuller’s Swimming Lessons is a kind of anti-cozy cozy mystery.”

  —NPR, Best Books of 2017

  “A perfect book club pick.”

  —BOOK RIOT

  “A ‘choose your own adventure’ story for adults . . . A haunting, motivating, and fantastic read.”

  —STEPH OPITZ, Book of the Month Club

  “Eloquent, harrowing, raw . . . sure to keep readers inching off their seats.”

  —KIRKUS

  “A tantalizing mystery.”

  —NYLON

  “Beautiful . . . [Fuller] delves deeply to examine the legacies of a flawed and passionate marriage.”

  —BOOKLIST, Starred Review

  “Saving the best for last with revelations and surprises, Fuller’s well-crafted, intricate tale captures the strengths and shortcomings of ordinary people to show how healing is possible by confronting the darkest places.”

  —LIBRARY Journal, Starred Review

  © ADRIAN HARVEY PHOTOGRAPHY

  CLAIRE FULLER was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1967. She gained a degree in sculpture from Winchester School of Art, but went on to have a long career in marketing and didn’t start writing until she was forty. She has written two other novels, Our Endless Numbered Days, which won the Desmond Elliott Prize, and Swimming Lessons. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband and two children.

  Copyright © 2018 Claire Fuller

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, contact: Tin House Books, 2617 NW Thurman St., Portland, OR 97210.

  Published by Tin House Books, Portland, Oregon, and Brooklyn, New York

  Distributed by W. W. Norton and Company.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

  Names: Fuller, Claire, author.

  Title: Bitter orange / by Claire Fuller.

  Description: First U.S. edition. | Portland, Oregon ; Brooklyn, New York :

  Tin House Books, 2018.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018024161| ISBN 9781947793156 (hardcover) |

  ISBN 9781947793163 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Psychological fiction.

  Classification: LCC PR6106.U45 B58 2019 | DDC 823/.92--dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024161

  ISBN: 978-1-94779-316-3 (EBK.)

  First US Edition 2018

  Printed in the USA

  Interior design by Diane Chonette

  www.tinhouse.com