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Fourth Estate An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thestate.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2015 Copyright © Scott Blackwood 2015 Scott Blackwood asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work Cover photograph © Martin Wimmer/Getty Images A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 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 This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Source ISBN: 9780007580934 Ebook Edition © January 2015 ISBN: 9780007580941 Version: 2015-09-16
For Ava, Ellie & Tommi
The first time I heard the voice I was terrified. It was noon, in summer, in my father’s garden…. I seldom heard the voice when it was not accompanied by a light. Usually it was very bright.
— JOAN OF ARC, FROM THE TRANSCRIPT OF HER TRIAL Thomas Aquinas invented a third order of duration distinct from time and eternity, which he called aevum…. It coexists with temporal events, at the moment of occurrence, being, as was said, like a stick in a river. Aevum, you might say, is the time order of novels. — FRANK KERMODE, THE SENSE OF AN ENDING
It shall be called “Bottom’s Dream,” because it hath no bottom.
— NICK BOTTOM, IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Contents Copyright Dedication Epigraphs Part I Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Part II
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Part III
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Part IV
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Part V
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Acknowledgments
About the Author
By the Same Author
About the Publisher
WE HAVE ALWAYS lived here, though we pretend we’ve just arrived. That’s the trick, to make forgetful shapes with your mouth so everything feels new and unremembered. But after a while we slip up. A careless word, an uninvited smell, a tip-of-the-tongue taste of something sweet, makes the room suddenly familiar
