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The Borough Press
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2015
First published in Great Britain by Faber and Faber 1996
Copyright © Lionel Shriver 1996
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2015
Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com
Lionel Shriver asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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 resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books
Source ISBN: 9780007578023
Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780007301744
Version: 2015-08-20
TO DON AND PEGGY SHRIVER
from whom, on balance, I have inherited more strengths than foibles—the most parents could hope for any child
A son could bear complacently the death of his father, while the loss of inheritance might drive him to despair.
Machiavelli, The Prince
Table of Contents
Praise for A Perfectly Good Family
Don’t tell me,” said the taxi driver,