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Chapters (59)
  1. Bad Friends
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. AFTER: DECEMBER
  6. BEFORE: JUNE
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Chapter Forty-One
  48. Chapter Forty-Two
  49. Chapter Forty-Three
  50. Chapter Forty-Four
  51. Chapter Forty-Five
  52. Chapter Forty-Six
  53. Chapter Forty-Seven
  54. Chapter Forty-Eight
  55. A CONVERSATION WITH CLAIRE SEEBER
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  57. About the Author
  58. By the same author:
  59. About the Publisher

‘Excuse me,’ I huffed, reaching my row, ‘that’s my seat.’

The steward turned from placing an enormous bunch of pink flowers on my chair. ‘This is for you too, you lucky thing,’ he winked, handing me an envelope. ‘I do love an intrigue – and I adore wild roses! So romantic.’

I recognised the handwriting, and my heart sped up again. As I read the letter slowly, I half-smiled.

It doesn’t have to mean anything, Mag, if I do come out, and I certainly won’t if you don’t want me to, though I do genuinely have business in Australia. (If Bel doesn’t have me assassinated first.) But I just want to see you, badly, away from everything back home. I want to tell you that I’m so sorry. That you’re the best thing that ever happened to me and I’m so incredibly sorry for messing it up; I’ll regret it forever if it’s the end. Plus I’ve always fancied a bit of yoga in Byron Bay. I’m discovering my inner child, you see. He’s about ten and a right pain. But I expect you knew that already.

Alex doing yoga? I laughed despite myself.

The plane bumped through some turbulence and the engines went into full throttle and pushed us on, thrusting us forward until we passed through the cloud, until we emerged on the other side and continued our smooth path again.

I looked out of the window, and it was absolutely dark now, only the lights of a tiny far-off plane visible from here, and, as we turned, one solitary distant star.

For the first time in many months, I felt calm, sealed safe inside. Finally I was mistress of my own destiny, finally I felt serene. I closed my eyes and saw Bel and Hannah hand in hand, standing in the Arrivals Hall in Sydney, tanned and happy, waiting for me. I saw myself smiling, dashing towards the arms of my oldest friends – my good friends, my very good friends.

I looked at that small star again, and then I slid down into my seat, pulling the shutter closed against the darkness of the night.

For the first time in such a very long time, I was ready to begin again.

A CONVERSATION WITH CLAIRE SEEBER

Q: Your books are deeply rooted in a sense of place, from your debut novel Lullaby, in which the action largely took place in London’s Blackheath, to the Cornish and London settings of Bad Friends. How important is it to you to have the location in mind when you are creating your novels?