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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

Stepping onto the lawn immediately eased me. I felt close to my father. Felt able to reassure him I was no part of her betrayal. The house was where I felt him the strongest. Once, when Jago and I were sharing one of our long chats into the night, he asked me if I’d swap a year of my life for one more day with our father. I didn’t even hesitate. I’d have traded ten years for just a few hours with him, and those few hours would be the ones we spent at The Cliff House, our last afternoon together, swimming in a pool that wasn’t ours, the sun on our faces, the murderous incoming rainstorm held at bay on the horizon.

I walked silently up to the terrace. The pool shone like oil. I stood at the end of it and undid my jeans. Took off my shoes and sweatshirt. Then I sat on the edge of the pool and lowered myself into the water. I pushed off, making barely a ripple, not a sound. I turned on my back, spread-eagled my arms, and floated, suspended, so the water covered my ears and dulled my hearing and shut out the world.

I looked up at the sky, at the millions of stars which spiked holes in the sheet of navy, and wondered which one my father was watching me from.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Jago

August 1986

He hesitates outside the door for a minute or two. He’s late. He said he’d be back by five to eat with them. It’s now after ten. He can see the two of them at the sink, behind the net curtain, light on, her washing, Tam drying. He can see by the way his sister’s face is set, how she’s snatching at the tea towel, pushing it around the pan roughly, that she’s upset about something.

He opens the door as quietly as he can. Steps inside. Holds his breath as he eases the door shut and creeps towards the stairs.

‘Jago?’

He freezes. Mutters under his breath. He considers ignoring her and climbing the stairs anyway, hiding in his room with the door closed. But he doesn’t. He has missed tea. He should at least say sorry for that.

He sticks his head around the door and Tamsyn smiles at him so he knows her mood is nothing to do with him.

‘Where have you been?’ His mother is making an effort to keep her voice light, trying to keep the recrimination hidden, though he can hear it as clearly as if she’d shouted through a loudhailer. He knows full well she’s doing it to avoid ‘setting him off’ and he feels his anger ignite.

‘I went out,’ he says. Hands in his pockets. Eyes on the floor.

She doesn’t reply and he glances up briefly. ‘With Adam. We were in Penzance. The Turk’s Head.’