The Book of Second Chances

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2019 by Katherine Slee
Reading group guide copyright © 2020 by Katherine Slee and Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Cover design by Elizabeth Turner Stokes
Cover illustration by Ella Laytham
Cover copyright © 2020 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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Originally published as For Emily in 2019 by Orion Fiction in Great Britain
First Grand Central trade paperback edition: May 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Slee, Katherine, author.
Title: The book of second chances / Katherine Slee.
Other titles: For Emily
Description: First Grand Central trade paperback edition. | New York : Forever, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019049279 | ISBN 9781538701652 (trade paperback) |
ISBN 9781538701638 (ebook)
Classification: LCC PR6119.L44 F67 2020 | DDC 823/.92—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019049279

ISBNs: 978-1-5387-0165-2 (trade paperback), 978-1-5387-0163-8 (ebook)

E3-20200326-DA-NF-ORI

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The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

—Vincent van Gogh

THE SUNDAY POST MAGAZINE
JULY 15, 2018

CATRIONA ROBINSON’S SWAN SONG

Or does Britain’s favorite children’s author still have one last adventure to share?

Interview by Suzie Johnstone

Catriona Robinson was one of this generation’s most beloved and best-known authors. Her series of children’s books, about a girl in a wheelchair who discovers a magical atlas that transports her all over the globe, has been read and adored by millions. She has also written several works of adult fiction, most recently Enchantment, which was shortlisted for a number of literary prizes last year.

A notoriously private person, Catriona spent the majority of her time at her home on the Norfolk coast, but in recent years was also a guest lecturer at the University of Cambridge for their creative writing course. It was at Cambridge that I was fortunate enough to meet her. She was giving a lecture to the upcoming finalists and, from what I have heard, it was both inspiring and humble, with a sprinkle of humor thrown into the mix.