by Helen Peters
She went into the kitchen to refill the jug. Hannah wandered through the hall and paused again in the doorway of the sitting room. She looked at all the people laughing and talking. All those people who had helped to save the farm. A wave of pure joy washed over her.
Dad appeared in the doorway, carrying an empty plate. “Any more of that Christmas cake, Hannah?”
Hannah took the plate. “I’ll get it. Are you enjoying the party?”
“Yes, excellent. It was a very good idea of yours.”
“Mum would have enjoyed it, wouldn’t she?”
Dad smiled. “She’d have loved it.”
Hannah met his eyes. A question came into her head. A question she had often thought about, but never expressed before.
She took a deep breath. Somehow, now seemed the right time to ask it. Right here in the sitting room, full of laughter and colour and light, the way it used to be at Christmas when Mum was alive.
“Dad?”
“Mm?”
“Do you think … maybe … that somehow Mum knows? Do you think that … somehow … she can see us?”
“Of course she can,” said Dad. “She can see us all, I’m sure of that.” He paused and then he looked at her. “You’ve brought this place back to life, Hannah. Your mother would be very proud of you.”
This story was inspired by a similar threat to the farm on which my family has lived and worked for three generations. I am grateful beyond words to the hundreds of people – family, friends, neighbours, experts and members of the community – who orchestrated and supported the campaign to save the farm from destruction.
An enormous thank you to Mum, Dad, Hazel, Mary and Mark, for so generously allowing me to misrepresent their characters and our shared history in works of fiction.
Huge thanks to my wonderful, wise and patient editor, Kirsty Stansfield, for her invaluable encouragement and guidance throughout the writing process.
Thank you to the fantastic team at Nosy Crow, and in particular to Kate Wilson, Adrian Soar and Dom Kingston. Special thanks to Nicola Theobald for the beautiful cover.
Thank you to all my fabulous friends – you know who you are – for your friendship and support, and special thanks to fellow writers Nino Cirone, Joe Friedman, Candy Gourlay, Cliff McNish and Christina Vinall, for your advice and encouragement.
Many thanks to my kind and lovely children, Freddie and Dorothea, for their enthusiasm and helpful feedback on the work-in-progress, and for being a constant source of inspiration.
And finally, thanks beyond measure to my husband, Oliver, without whose encouragement and belief I would never have started writing and whose unwavering support has allowed me to continue to write. Thank you, always, for everything.
Copyright
For Oliver. H.P.
THE FARM BENEATH THE WATER
First published in the UK in 2015 by Nosy Crow Ltd
The Crow’s Nest, 10a Lant Street
London SE1 1QR, UK
This ebook edition first published in 2015
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Text copyright © Helen Peters, 2015
The right of Helen Peters to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
All rights reserved.
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.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblence to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978 0 85763 262 3
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