by Freya North
My time in Saxtons River was tremendous fun, friendships were quickly formed and I soon became part of their community. I’d spend my days cycling – so mesmerized by the beauty of the location that I’d rack up the miles without noticing, returning often at dusk to then hang out and make merry with this great bunch of people. A tiny little thought popped into my head one day, as I crossed a covered bridge and chatted with an old boy who told me to help myself to his windfall apples. I thought, I could set a novel in a place like this – about a girl who trades her life in Old Blighty for an adventure in New England.
I was a month too early to see the Fall. I’ll come back, I thought, I’ll definitely come back. It was almost time to leave for home and I knew three things for sure. I wasn’t going to meet Kevin Bacon. I wasn’t going to do my PhD. I was going to return to England to finish my novel because now I knew I had other books to write. One about a girl called Chloë who’d travel around the four countries of the UK during the four seasons of one year. And one featuring a girl called Polly who’d embark on a life-affirming teachers’ exchange programme to a school in Vermont.
After four years beavering away, Sally was complete, Chloë was half written and Polly was still firmly in my mind’s eye, her bags packed, desperate to go. Rejections from publishers and agents had come in thick and fast but in January 1996, the unbelievable happened – not only had I an agent, but suddenly I had a publishing contract for three novels. I wrote to my friend Mary: guess what! I’m coming back!
That Fall, a month or so before Sally was first published, I was back in Saxtons River – notepad and Dictaphone to hand, author’s cap on. I cycled all over the place. I partied. I interviewed students and teachers alike. I went to a real house-raising. And I worked. If Polly was to be teaching here, then I had to as well. Mary organized for me to assist in a handful of pottery classes – I just about pulled it off not letting the students realize I was only one step ahead of them.
I thought, you’re going to love it here, Polly old girl – a whole year to spend in such a wonderful place with such extraordinary people.
Freya North
Spring 2012
About the Author
Freya North is the author of 12 bestselling novels which have, in a career spanning 16 years, been translated into many languages. From teenage girls to elderly gentlemen, Freya’s novels have won the hearts of legions of readers worldwide. In 2008, she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award for Pillow Talk and was shortlisted for the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2012 for Chances.
At school, Freya was constantly reprimanded for daydreaming – so she still can’t quite believe that essentially, this is what she is now paid to do. She was born in London but lives in rural Hertfordshire with her family and other animals, where she writes from a stable in her back garden.
To connect with Freya and hear about events, unique competitions and sneak previews of what she’s writing, join her at www.facebook.com/freya.north or log onto www.freyanorth.com and find out more.
Acclaim for Freya
‘Darkly funny and sexy – literary escapism at its very finest’
Sunday Independent
‘Secrets will make you smile, sigh and cheer as this story proves love can be found in the most unexpected places’
Sunday Express
‘… another sure-fire hit for Freya’
Heat
‘A breath of fresh air … fresh and witty’
Daily Express
‘A fab read’
Closer
‘Fast paced, page-turning and full of endearing, interesting characters. I defy anyone who doesn’t fall in love with it’
Glamour
‘Settle down and indulge’
Cosmopolitan
‘The novel’s likeable central characters are so well painted that you feel not only that you know them, but that you know how right they are for each other … the beauty of the North Yorkshire countryside contrasts convincingly with the bustle of London’
Daily Telegraph
‘North charts the emotional turmoil with a sexy exactitude’
Marie Claire
‘Freya North has matured to produce an emotive novel that deals with the darker side of love – these are real women, with real feelings’
She
‘A delicious creation … sparkling in every sense’
Daily Express
‘A distinctive storytelling style and credible, loveable characters … an addictive read that encompasses the stuff life is made of: love, sex, fidelity and, above all, friendship’
Glamour
‘Plenty that’s fresh to say about the age-old differences between men and women’
Marie Claire
‘An eye-poppingly sexy start leads into a family reunion laced with secrets. Tangled mother/daughter relationships unravel and tantalising family riddles keep you glued to the end’
Cosmopolitan
‘You’ll laugh, cry, then laugh some more’
Company
‘Freya North manages to strike a good balance between drama, comedy and romance, and has penned another winner … touching, enjoyable’
Heat
‘An addictive read with a realistic view of home life, sisterhood and identity crisis’
Prima
Also by Freya North:
Sally
Chloë
Cat
Fen
Pip
Love Rules
Home Truths
Pillow Talk
Secrets
Chances
Rumours
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblace to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely conincidental.
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by
William Heinemann 1998
Copyright © Freya North 1998
Afterword © Freya North 2012
Freya North asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Extracts here, here and here from ‘Moonlight in Vermont’ by Karl Suessdorf and John Blackburn; Extracts here from ‘Tam O’Shanter’ by Robert Burns;
‘Pied Beauty’ by Gerald Manley Hopkins; ‘Somet, Bright Start’ by John Keats; ‘Proverbial Philosophy’, 1st series. ‘Of Discretion’ by Martin Farquhar Tupper;
‘Lead Kindly Night’ by Henry Newman
The author and publisher have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright holders for permission, and any omissions or errors in the form of credit given will be corrected in future editions
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Source ISBN: 9780007462193
Ebook Edition © June 2012 ISBN:9780007462209
Version 1
FIRST EDITION
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