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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

When I eventually looked back down at the pool, her eyes had glassed over, unseeing now, staring at nothing. She hung suspended in the black water like an art installation. Peaceful and calm, hair floating out from her head like summer-gold seaweed, her skin tinged a shimmering green in the blackness.

‘You’ll be happier now,’ I told her. ‘At peace. It will all be fine now.’

Everything around me fell silent. The wind dropped. The waves quietened. The only sound was the plaintive caw of a raven in the distance.

Real or imagined?

I could no longer tell.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Present Day

She sits on the chair in the corner of our bedroom. She is dressed in a royal blue kaftan tied with a matching sash. On her manicured feet are a pair of golden sandals.

I want to ask her – again – why she’s here. But I don’t need to. I know the answer.

She’s here because she is the price I have to pay.

Eleanor is motionless as she watches me. I close my eyes and remind myself she’s made up, a figment of my imagination. But when I look again she’s still watching me.

‘No,’ I whisper. ‘You aren’t real. You’re just in my head.’

She smiles brightly.

‘Leave me alone.’

‘How’s your brother?’ Her singsong voice cuts through the silence.

‘He’s good.’

My brother visits me once a month on a Sunday. He drives down from Falmouth. Sometimes he brings his children who bounce around him like puppies. Sometimes he comes alone. We meet at Sennen and buy a takeaway coffee, then walk from the car park to the far reach of Gwenver, turn and walk back. When the children come – two girls and a boy – they beg him to throw stones with them. I smile as I watch them because every few goes he lets them throw the furthest. His wife never joins us. She and I don’t get on. Once I overheard them talking. It was Christmas Day. She was angry. I hadn’t liked the dinner she cooked so I left it. Politely, knife and fork neatly together, plate pushed a little away from me. Apparently this was rude enough to mean I would never be welcome again. She told him I needed help. I wanted to burst in and ask her who doesn’t need help, but I bit my tongue and stayed put.

‘And Edie?’

‘She was in touch last year.’

‘Is she well?’