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Back The Cliff House Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Booklist
  3. Title Page
  4. Praise
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  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. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  62. Epilogue
  63. Acknowledgements
  64. About the Publisher

Edie climbs up too. They step carefully then haul themselves up onto the wide ledge beneath the glassless window in the ruined wall. There’s no roof. The timbers rotted away decades before. Looking upwards, the hole where the roof should be creates a picture frame for the sky. Grass has grown over the floor of the ruin and makes a soft carpet. The three of them lean out of the window. The cliff falls away. A drop of forty or fifty foot. The sea boils white like a witch’s cauldron, swirling and crashing in from all directions with a low rumbling in which he hears his father’s voice.

‘Get ready for a big one,’ Jago says.

And moments later the swell rolls into a giant white-topped monster which breaks hard against the rocks.

‘How did you know that?’ Edie’s voice is filled with wonder and it twists his stomach.

‘He counted,’ his sister says. ‘Every seventh is a big one.’

They sit down on the grassy ledge. Backs against the wall. Edie is between him and Tamsyn and every part of him is aware of her, her body against his. Being this close to her he realises how slight she is, like a porcelain doll with flawless skin and limbs like glass that might snap in his hands.

Jago reaches into his pocket for his tobacco. Edie gets her own cigarettes out and offers the packet to Tamsyn who shakes her head. Edie passes a can of lager to each of them. The lagers foam when they crack them. They smoke and drink. Edie pulls her knees close to her body and rests her chin on them.

He steals a look at her. Her profile is perfect against the dark walls of stone. The way she holds the can makes his blood pound. He notices her hair has gathered together in clumps where it has dried after being wetted by sea-spray at the Cape.

He imagines leaning over and putting the strands of hair in his mouth to suck out the salt.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Edie

July 1986

‘I can’t tell you how good it feels to get out of that house.’ Edie draws on her cigarette and exhales heavily.

‘I don’t get why you don’t love it.’ Tamsyn spoke quietly, as if part of her didn’t want to be heard. ‘If it were my house I’d never want to leave.’

‘I hate it. It’s like a cage. Claustrophobic and quiet, and, oh God, so bloody white.’ Edie stubbed her cigarette into the tufts of grass at her feet and flicked the end into the centre of the engine house floor.

‘How can you say that?’ Tamsyn seemed to be cross, her mouth set, words clipped. ‘I think it’s lovely. In fact, if I were you I’d be happy I had the perfect life.’