Chapters (67)
- Cover
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
‘Why?’ she had asked Jeff over and over again in the first few dark days. ‘What is wrong with me? Why aren’t you happy in our marriage? I thought you were. I’m sure I always have been. What’s happened?’
He had said nothing, there was nothing, he too had been happy, and he still loved her, there was nothing wrong. The only thing that had happened was Madison, with whom, at the age of fifty-three, he had fallen suddenly and insanely in love. Yes, Greta said, yes, it is insane, you are mad, you are out of your mind, and I know this happens, it’s an illness, it’s a fever. Read Shakespeare. You had drops poured into your eyes. No, I am sane and wide awake and nobody drugged me, I was where I was, and suddenly, everything turned upside down and I am where I am, he had said.
You can’t argue with it, friends had told her, you can’t cure it, you have to hope he’ll wake up and know himself for an idiot. Don’t try and stop him, let him go and you keep your pride. I give it six months, less even. It can’t last. He’ll be back. She’s twenty-one, for goodness’ sake! He won’t marry her.
He had married her.