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House of Correction : A Novel (2020)

Page 35

by French, Nicci


  She was thinking she would never go back. She would never hammer nails into wooden boards, with Andy working at her side in companionable silence; never make porridge and sit at her kitchen table looking out on to water and sky, or wake in her little gable room in the watches of the night and hear the roar and shush of the waves; never walk down to the cove and take off her clothes and slide her body into the vast darkness of the sea; never suffer her demons and herself in this place that she had thought she could rescue but which had nearly destroyed her. She had been wrong to imagine she could return to call this place home or could ever put the past safely behind her, when all the time it lay inside.

  ‘What am I thinking?’

  She glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw the village dwindle into nothing; just a few lamps winking in the morning and smoke rising from a chimney. For a brief moment, she thought a small, scowling girl with a mop of dark hair was standing on the verge, holding a sticky fistful of blackberries, but it was just a trick of the light.

  ‘I’m thinking that this is where I start.’

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As always, we owe so much to so many.

  At United Agents, thanks to dear Sarah Ballard, always our first reader. (Needless to say, everyone that follows is dear as well.) Eli Keren and St John Donald are a constant support.

  We’re grateful to Sam Edenborough and Nicki Kennedy and the rest of the team at Intercontinental Literary Agency for their guidance and friendship over many years.

  At Simon & Schuster: Jo Dickinson read the book just before heading off to fresh woods and pastures new and then handed it over to Suzanne Baboneau. We know how lucky we are to have (or have had) both of them – for their intelligence, sensitivity and ability to spell words like ‘acknowledgements’.

  Thanks to Hayley McMullan for her passion and imagination. Thanks to Jess Barratt for indomitably and cheerfully accompanying us down some very mean streets around the United Kingdom.

  And thanks to Ian Chapman for benignly watching over us.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Nicci French is the pseudonym for the writing partnership of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. The couple are married and live in London and Suffolk. They have written 22 books together.

  www.simonandschuster.com.au/authors/Nicci-French

  Also by Nicci French

  Frieda Klein Novels

  Blue Monday

  Tuesday’s Gone

  Waiting for Wednesday

  Thursday’s Child

  Friday on My Mind

  Saturday Requiem

  Sunday Morning Coming Down

  Day of the Dead

  Other Novels

  The Memory Game

  The Safe House

  Killing Me Softly

  Beneath the Skin

  The Red Room

  Land of the Living

  Secret Smile

  Catch Me When I Fall

  Losing You

  Until It’s Over

  What to Do When Someone Dies

  Complicit

  The Lying Room

  We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.

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  First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2020

  Copyright © Nicci French, 2020. All rights reserved.

  The right of Nicci French to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

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  222 Gray’s Inn Road

  London WC1X 8HB

  Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

  Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

  www.simonandschuster.co.uk

  www.simonandschuster.com.au

  www.simonandschuster.co.in

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4711-7927-3

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4711-7928-0

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-9857-1

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Part One: Inside Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Part Two: Prosecution Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Part Three: Defence Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Part Four: Outside Chapter Seventy-Five

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Copyright

 

 

 


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