by Lesley Allen
She closed the front door and went into the kitchen. The autumn sun streamed in through the window and bounced off the walls, the pale yellow paint making the room seem even brighter. The young couple who had bought the house fell in love with the yellow walls and blue cobalt cupboards the first time they viewed the house. They said it reminded them of the Greek island where they had spent their honeymoon.
Shaking slightly, she sat at the table – a mug of tea and a Kimberley biscuit on a tray in front of her – and tore open the wrapping of the package. A handwritten note fell out.
Dear Biddy,
Well, here it is, the first edition hot off the press. A job well done, I think. Congratulations. You’re a star!
Be in touch soon re the launch.
Best wishes,
Marcus
Biddy turned the book over in her hands a few times, and traced the seagull on the blue and grey cover with her fingertips. That was her drawing. Hers. And there were many more inside. She opened the book slowly and turned over the first page, and then the second. There it was. That’s what she’d waited to see. She took a sip of tea from her mug, cleared her throat and read aloud:
For my father, with all of my love. For Penny Jordan, wherever she may be.
And for B.W.s everywhere.
Biddy Weir.
Acknowledgements
The journey to publication for The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir is a story in itself – full of drama, disappointment, reinvention, and ultimately fulfilment. Many people have been involved in the evolution of this book over the years, and consequently I have a host of folk to thank. So, please indulge me in this moment of gratitude.
First and foremost, to Mark Smith, Bonnier CEO: I now know that Biddy was waiting on you. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for giving her a home. To Joel Richardson, my editor at Twenty7 Books, thank you for your insight, patience and diligent, thoughtful notes. Thanks also to Claire Johnson-Creek at Twenty7 and Molly Powell and Annabel Wright at Whitefox.
Enormous thanks to my agents Susan and Paul Feldstein for your years of support, patience, counsel and friendship – and for sticking with me through thick and thin. I am indebted to you both – and relieved we got there in the end!
To Damian Smyth at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, thank you so very much for your wise words of advice on many occasions, and for encouraging me to keep going. And to the ACNI for financial support over the years, I am deeply grateful.
To Lynda Neilands, who started me off on this road, and was the first person who allowed me to think there might just be a book in me, I am truly grateful. The seeds of Biddy were planted in your writing class, Lynda, and look how she has grown.
To Catherine Murphy, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council – I am hugely grateful for the invaluable mountain information you shared, and for helping me to get a sense of ‘Innis’!
I have been extremely lucky and deeply humbled to have had words of advice, encouragement and insightful constructive criticism from several renowned authors through various stages of Biddy’s journey. Heartfelt thanks go to: Bernie McGill – for your kindness and generosity over the years, and your perceptive, comprehensive notes which made such a difference; Lucy Caldwell – for an email of encouragement at a moment of despair, and for all your counsel since; Colin Bateman – for countless, ongoing titbits of advice; Jo Baker – for your perceptive and encouraging feedback all those years ago in the Seamus Heaney Centre; and to Glen Patterson – for a late night phone chat you won’t even remember way back when I was just starting out.
I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has read drafts of the novel and shared their thoughts. Special thanks must go to my dear friend Arthur Scappaticci for the formatting suggestion that transformed the book and gave it life again, and to Kathryn and Alan Thomson for hosting their own private book club, always believing, and relentlessly cheering me on. Thanks also to Natasha Geary, Caroline Nicholson, Katriona Burrow, John Richardson and Joyce Adams.
To my old Bangor Book Club – I finally got to drink that champagne, girls! To Aimee’s ‘Dirty Dancers’ – cheers for helping me celebrate when The Call came through. To Clare and Michael Donald and to Louise Hinds – thank you all for your unwavering belief that it would happen. To Anna, Edna, Emma, Jacqui, Jane, Janet, Julie, Karen and Nadine, aka The Girls – you’re the best friends in the world, and I’m glad I made you proud. To Alison Gordon, Kieran Gilmore and Sarah Kiely– thanks for helping me stay sane through the editing process. And to my fellow Twenty7 authors – I couldn’t be sharing this ride with a better bunch of people.
My own schooldays were a lifetime and a half ago, but thankfully they were nothing like Biddy’s, and the positive legacy of certain teachers will always be with me. So to my old English teachers, Marilyn McGimpsey and Brenda Lindsay – I am indebted to you both. I already loved stories, but you made me fall in love with words. And to my former VP, Geography teacher, and mentor, Bobby Gray (who mercifully bears no resemblance to Clive Patterson) your faith in me has finally paid off!
My family has been my bedrock these past few years, and no one has been more excited to see Biddy come to life than they. Heartfelt thanks to my sister, Karalyn, and her family, Paul, Kiera and Cameron Fields, for your unwavering support and for all of the relentless promotion you do.
To my mum and late dad, Patsy and Ronnie Allen – I owe my love of books to you. Obviously I owe so much more than that, but thank you for all those magical library trips, for indulging my ‘secret’ late-night-undercover-torch-lit reading habit, and for holding onto my dream for me. I wish you’d got to read this book, Dad, but I’m so very grateful that you will, Mum.
And to my daughter, Aimee Richardson – thank you for inspiring me every day, for being my biggest champion, and for always keeping my path so brightly lit.
About the Author
Lesley Allen lives in Bangor, County Down, with her teenage daughter. She is a freelance copywriter and the press officer and assistant programme developer for Open House Festival. Lesley was named as one of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s 2016 Artist Career Enhancement recipients for literature. She will be using the award to complete her second novel.
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Twenty7 Books
Twenty7 Books
80-81 Wimpole St, London W1G 9RE
www.twenty7books.co.uk
Copyright © Lesley Allen, 2016
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The right of Lesley Allen to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4998-6186-0
This ebook was produced by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
Twenty7 Books is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre, a Bonnier Publishing company
www.bonnierzaffre.co.uk
www.bonnierpublishing.co.uk
For information, contact 251 Park Avenue South, Floor 12, New York, New York 10010
www.bonnierzaffre.com / www.bonnierpublishing.com
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