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PETER STRAUB
Lost Boy Lost Girl
This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters, with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures and public figures appear, the situations, incidents and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollinsPublishers 2003
First published in the USA by
Random House 2003
Copyright © Peter Straub 2003
Peter Straub asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780007142309
Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN 9780007387960 Version: 2016-08-10
For Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee
There was set before me a mighty hill
And long days I climbed
Through regions of snow.
When I had before me the summit-view,
It seemed that my labours
Had been to see gardens
Lying at impossible distances.
– STEPHEN CRANE
What was at stake here, he thought, was the solidity of the world.
– TIMOTHY UNDERHILL, The Divided Man
Contents
Part Two THE HOUSE ON MICHIGAN STREET
Part Three A RIP IN THE FABRIC