Chapters (90)
- PROLOGUE
- 1849
- ONE
- TWO
- EDINBURGH
- 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
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EPILOGUE
- HISTORICAL NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Extract from A Corruption of Blood
- 1850
- ONE
He folded the letter and placed it in his breast pocket for now, not wanting to abandon something precious to the chaos of his desk. He thought of how the place missed Sarah. How he missed Sarah. And with a smile he saw what ought to have been obvious.
Soon enough he would be setting up his own practice here in Edinburgh, a challenge he could face with greater confidence if he might recruit Sarah to the cause. With Archie gone and with the prospect of motherhood lifted from her too, she would be in need of a new purpose.
He thought of her frustrations over the ambiguity of her position at Queen Street and how her role was perceived, with some people still thinking her a housemaid and others a nurse. He had come up with the perfect solution for both of them. He would offer her the formal position of his assistant, a suitable vehicle for her burgeoning knowledge and experience.
Raven went to the window again, more impatient now than ever, aching to see her face when he made his proposal. Sarah would be delighted. He couldn’t imagine her wanting anything more.
EIGHTY-ONE
he port of Leith was a teeming ferment, as always, but on this occasion Sarah saw something more than just the crowded foreshore. On past visits she had been afraid of its bustle: the aggressive profanity of the sailors, the burly stevedores hurling crates, the porters threatening to run you over with their handcarts. What she recognised today was that this was a portal through which she could already glimpse the wider world beyond. On the wharf she saw men of different races, saw unfamiliar and exotic styles of clothing, heard languages she did not understand.
She walked through the swinging double doors of the General Steam Navigation Company, finding herself in a busy lobby around which dozens of conversations loudly reverberated. She gazed up at the walls, adorned with notices, schedules, advertisements and route maps, and it was as she examined one of these last that she came to appreciate how small her own world truly was. This was not due to the sight of Scotland’s tiny size in the greater scale of the globe, but of the more mundane deduction that she was on the wrong coast for her intended destination.
She would have to sail from Glasgow or Liverpool, which was not a problem, but she felt diminished that this hadn’t even occurred to her, as her life had never given her reason to investigate such things before.
She approached one of the desks, where the smartly dressed clerk greeted her with a friendly smile.
‘How can I help you, ma’am?’
‘I am making a preliminary enquiry with regard to booking passage, though from a look at your maps, I realise I might be on the wrong side of the country.’