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Back The Godmothers Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-one
  25. Chapter Twenty-two
  26. Chapter Twenty-three
  27. Chapter Twenty-four
  28. Chapter Twenty-five
  29. Chapter Twenty-six
  30. Chapter Twenty-seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-one
  35. Chapter Thirty-two
  36. Chapter Thirty-three
  37. Chapter Thirty-four
  38. Chapter Thirty-five
  39. Chapter Thirty-six
  40. Chapter Thirty-seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-one
  45. Chapter Forty-two
  46. Epilogue
  47. Extract from Those Faraday Girls
  48. Acknowledgements
  49. About the Author
  50. Also by Monica McInerney

Olivia’s eyes filled. ‘I think I’d like to talk to her too.’

Soon after, Maxie was staring out of the plane window. It had been so hard to say goodbye to Olivia, after so recently farewelling Eliza. She knew they had made the right decision thirteen years ago. But it was still so hard to live with the guilt. Their guilt.

The therapist had urged her to be honest with herself. To keep talking about it with Olivia.

She and Olivia had done nothing for months but talk about it. They’d told each other the truth from the start. It hadn’t helped either of them. It was still the first thing they both thought about each morning. The last thing each night. Guilt was eating them both up.

‘You need to try to get it out of yourself some other way,’ the therapist had suggested. ‘Bring it out into the light somehow. Use all the tools you have. You’re an actress. You told me you’ve been trying your hand at playwriting too. Imagine seeing it unfold on stage. Imagine yourself, Olivia and Jeannie, having a chance to talk about it. Explaining it all to each other. Why you did what you did. Said what you said.’

‘I can’t. Jeannie’s dead.’ It physically hurt to say it.

‘Imagine that she’s still able to hear. Able to respond to you both. Imagine what she would say.’

As her plane started to taxi, Maxie shut her eyes, picturing all she’d written. The words were still strong in her memory. She’d included everything she remembered. Everything Olivia had told her.

Everything they could never, ever tell Eliza.

Chapter Forty-two

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

SETTING: A BARE STAGE. OLIVIA IS SEATED AT STAGE LEFT. MAXIE IS SEATED AT STAGE RIGHT. ABOVE, ON A SWING, THE GHOST OF JEANNIE, SLOWLY MOVING BACK AND FORTH.

THE THREE WOMEN SPEAK ONLY TO THE AUDIENCE, NOT TO EACH OTHER.

SPOTLIGHT FALLS ON OLIVIA.

OLIVIA: Jeannie rang me five times the night she died. She was drunk. She was hysterical. She was dramatic. She often was all three of those things.

JEANNIE, SLOWLY MOVING IN SWING ABOVE: You’re right. I was.

OLIVIA: She was threatening to kill herself. She kept saying that she’d made such a mess of her life. How worthless she was. How Eliza would be better off without her. That she had realised Eliza was ashamed of her for drinking too much, not having a proper job or a degree, for not giving her a proper childhood, with a father, a steady home life.

JEANNIE: I did feel like that sometimes.