The Godmothers
PRAISE FOR MONICA McINERNEY’S BESTSELLERS
‘Monica McInerney is at the very top of her game . . . if you’ve yet to read her books, treat yourselves IMMEDIATELY!’
PATRICIA SCANLAN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A TIME FOR FRIENDS
‘You’ll be laughing out loud one minute and crying the next’
COSMOPOLITAN
‘Heart-warming . . . a lovely read’
HELLO! MAGAZINE
‘McInerney is becoming a must-read author for women’s fiction fans around the world’
HUFFINGTON POST
‘The sort of feel-good read you long to get back to’
HILARY BOYD, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THURSDAYS IN THE PARK
‘Exploring universal family issues of loss, rivalry, ageing and grief, this is a warm, witty and moving novel’
WOMAN’S DAY
‘McInerney’s bewitching multigenerational saga lavishly and lovingly explores the resiliency and fragility of family bonds’
BOOKLIST
‘A world of family, love, warmth and heartbreaking secrets that will sweep you up . . . superb’
BOOKS OF ALL KINDS
‘If you haven’t discovered McInerney yet, now is the time to do so’
BETTER READING
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Epilogue
Extract from Those Faraday Girls
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright
For John Neville of St Patrick’s Road and Limerick, with love and thanks.
CHAPTER ONE
By the time Eliza Maxine Olivia Miller was eleven, she had lived in eight different country towns. Her mother liked to move a lot.
It was a hot November afternoon. Eliza and her mother Jeannie were currently living in Morwell, two hours from Melbourne. Eliza’s class was rehearsing Christmas carols for the end-of-year concert. She was thrilled to have been picked to stand near the front, holding up a tinfoil star. Tall for her age, she was usually asked to keep to the back of school groups.
After the rehearsal, her classmates talked about who’d be coming to watch their performance. Eliza just listened, still not quite part of the class. She often arrived at new schools in the middle of term, when most of the friendships were already formed.
One girl was the youngest of six, born and bred in the town. She announced that her whole family and all four grandparents were coming. They’d fill an entire row of seats. One boy had invited all nine of his cousins.
‘What about you, Eliza?’ another girl eventually asked.
‘Just my mum,’ she said, trying not to blush at the rare attention.
‘Your dad can’t make it?’
Eliza shook her head.
One of the other girls asked Eliza where her father was. Eliza told her she didn’t know.