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Back Daughter of Eden
Chapters (68)
  1. Title page
  2. Dedication
  3. Part I
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-one
  25. Twenty-two
  26. Twenty-three
  27. Twenty-four
  28. Twenty-five
  29. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 20. 20:25 MT.
  30. Part II
  31. Twenty-six
  32. Twenty-seven
  33. Twenty-eight
  34. Twenty-nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-one
  37. Thirty-two
  38. Thirty-three
  39. Thirty-four
  40. Thirty-five
  41. Thirty-six
  42. Thirty-seven
  43. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 22. 20:05 MT.
  44. Thirty-eight
  45. Thirty-nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-one
  48. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 25. 15:30 MT.
  49. Forty-two
  50. Forty-three
  51. Forty-four
  52. Forty-five
  53. Forty-six
  54. Forty-seven
  55. Forty-eight
  56. Forty-nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-one
  59. Fifty-two
  60. Fifty-three
  61. Fifty-four
  62. Part III
  63. Fifty-five
  64. Fifty-six
  65. Fifty-seven
  66. Fifty-eight
  67. Also by Chris Beckett
  68. Copyright page

Tom stopped in his tracks. ‘What? ’ He just couldn’t understand why she kept coming back at him when he’d shouted at her so often, and beat her so many times. How was he supposed to get some sense into her? Do for her? ‘What are you talking about, girl? How could I ever be proud of being one of the Johnfolk? They took the stones from the Circle and threw them in the water! They broke up Family! They stole Gela’s ring! How could I ever be proud of that? Tom’s neck, Trueheart, how could you think for a moment I could be?’

‘Do you really think all Johnfolk are mean and bad, Dad? Do you really think they don’t love their kids like you do? Do you think they don’t—?’

‘They’re attacking us right now, Trueheart! They’ve driven us from our home! They’re doing for our people. Your own brothers are fighting them. How can you—?’

‘Yes but be fair, Dad, we would have attacked them if we thought we could win, wouldn’t we? In fact we Davidfolk did attack them once, didn’t we? It was the Johnfolk who first found Wide Forest after all, but Great David wouldn’t let them stay there. He came over and pushed them right down to Brown River.’

Tom pulled off his headwrap. ‘Because they told lies, because they broke up Family, because—’

‘That’s our story about them, I know, but I bet they have a story about us too, don’t you think? And their own story about themselves? How can we know for sure that our story’s true and not theirs? I mean, we can’t know what really happened all those years ago, can we? All we can know for certain is that everyone born where we come from believes one version of the story, and everyone born across the Pool believes another. In other words, people believe the story they’re brought up with. It’s stupid saying that people believe such-and-such story because they’re good or they’re bad.’

Tom was quivering with fury.

‘Are you questioning the True Story? You want to be careful careful, girl, or you could find yourself—’

Clare came striding down the path.

‘Leave it, Tom!’ she hissed. ‘I can’t believe you’re arguing now, when your little daughter Suzie there is burning up with poison fever.’

That stopped him. He turned to go to Flame. But he hadn’t quite finished with Trueheart.

‘Just remember, girl,’ he threw back at her. ‘Just remember that Suzie would be fine if it wasn’t for that dirty slinker from New Earth, shooting an arrow at her little shoulder.’