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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 felt helpless. She didn’t want this. She wished they were like a normal child and parent. Like Tamsyn and Angie. She’d seen the way Angie looked at her daughter, heard the warmth in Tamsyn’s voice when she spoke about her mother, envied the way she respected her and cared about upsetting her. Edie would trade everything of hers which Tamsyn coveted for a relationship with her mother that was half as good as the one they had.

‘You’ve nothing to say for yourself?’ Eleanor drew on her cigarette and then blinked slowly. ‘None of your usual excuses or sarcastic jibes?’

Edie lowered her head to hide her trembling chin and gathering tears.

‘We’re leaving at the end of the week. I’m taking you back to London. You’re going to go back to school and get your A levels. You’re going to start dressing properly, you’ll take the crap off your eyes and throw that vile thing in your nose away. And then you’ll start mixing with people who are worthy of your time and standing. You might want to throw your life away screwing hopeless losers, but you’ll be doing it over my dead body.’

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Tamsyn

August 1986

I sat on my bed and willed the house to quieten.

I listened to Mum brushing her teeth and moving around on the landing. My grandad’s light clicked off, then there were soft moans as he got himself into bed. My brother was out, of course. He was barely with us nowadays and I know it pained Mum, that she was forced to constantly bite her tongue, swallowing back a barrage of questions. Where have you been? Why weren’t you back when you said you’d be? Any news on a job?

I heard Mum’s footfalls on the stairs and the sitting room door closing. Then the house fell still. Only the odd creak broke the silence. I thought of Dad’s stories about the Knockers, the piskies who lurked in the mineshafts and rapped on the supports and beams to warn of disaster. Had the Knockers come to our house to tap-tap-tap a caution?

No, not Knockers.

Just cooling rafters.