Chapters (82)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- Suggested topics for reading-group discussion
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‘I might email Camile and ask her if I can replace the light,’ Jan said as she walked with Chris to the front door. ‘Would you be able to do it if she agrees?’
‘Yes, but speak to her first. As I said, she wasn’t keen before.’
‘OK.’
She watched him go and then closed the front door.
It seemed slightly odd that Camile wouldn’t want the sensor light working, Jan thought as she returned to the living room. If nothing else, it would show the way to the dustbin in the dark. Having tripped over a couple of times, she now waited until daylight to take out the rubbish. She wasn’t sure if she should contact Camile about replacing the light. Chris hadn’t been very encouraging. But it would be useful to have it working.
Perhaps she could repair it herself, Jan wondered as she went into the kitchen and poured herself another coffee. There would be no harm in that, as it wouldn’t cost Camile anything. She knew the basics – how to replace a bulb or fuse or spot where a wire had come loose. Her father had shown her. A loose wire could blow a fuse. It had happened to a lamp in the flat and she’d been the one to repair it. Yes, instead of contacting Camile she’d have a look at the sensor light first to see if she could work out what was wrong.
Setting down her mug in the kitchen, Jan exchanged her slippers for shoes and opened the back door. Tinder stayed on his rug. She stepped outside and felt the fresh air. Even in daylight she was reminded how countrified and isolated the cottage was. Bushes and trees on two sides and a dense wood at the bottom. It was quiet, with only the occasional chirp of an unseen bird or stirring of dry leaves. Camile had said the cottage had been built around 1830. Originally a tenanted farmhouse, it retained many of its original features, although the thatched roof had been replaced by slate tiles.
Jan stood on the stone patio and looked up at the sensor light. It was on the wall just above the living-room window. She’d seen it before but hadn’t taken much notice. Now as she looked, she could see it was quite new. Why install a new sensor light and not use it? she thought. That was odd. Camile must have felt she needed it, and Chris had offered to look at it to see what was wrong, but she’d refused. It didn’t make sense.
She couldn’t see an electric cable running from the light, so logically that meant it went straight through the wall behind the light as it did on the sensor light at her parents’ house.