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Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for The House of Whispers
  3. Title Page
  4. Note to Readers
  5. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  19. Twelve
  20. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  21. Thirteen
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  25. Sixteen
  26. Seventeen
  27. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  28. Eighteen
  29. Nineteen
  30. Twenty
  31. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  32. Twenty-One
  33. Twenty-Two
  34. Twenty-Three
  35. Twenty-Four
  36. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  37. Twenty-Five
  38. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  39. Twenty-Six
  40. Twenty-Seven
  41. Twenty-Eight
  42. Twenty-Nine
  43. Thirty
  44. Thirty-One
  45. Thirty-Two
  46. Thirty-Three
  47. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  48. Thirty-Four
  49. Thirty-Five
  50. Thirty-Six
  51. Thirty-Seven
  52. Thirty-Eight
  53. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  54. Thirty-Nine
  55. Forty
  56. Forty-One
  57. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  58. Forty-Two
  59. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  60. Forty-Three
  61. Forty-Four
  62. Forty-Five
  63. Forty-Six
  64. Forty-Seven
  65. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  66. Forty-Eight
  67. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  68. Forty-Nine
  69. Fifty
  70. Fifty-One
  71. Fifty-Two
  72. Fifty-Three
  73. Fifty-Four
  74. Fifty-Five
  75. Fifty-Six
  76. Fifty-Seven
  77. Fifty-Eight
  78. Fifty-Nine
  79. Sixty
  80. Priory Hospital North London: 20 December 2019
  81. Acknowledgements
  82. About the Publisher

I’d been in the kitchen the night Rohan had come home and told me he might need to move to New York – ‘might’, I soon learned, being an understatement as it turned out because there was no ‘might’ about it. It was just before the heatwave began and the weather was still unremarkable – the usual British summer of four seasons in one day. It seems odd now to think of weather that wasn’t a talking point; weather that hadn’t taken on a character of its own, baking the house, the street, the city and its residents – but I remember it wasn’t raining, neither was it sunny. The windows were closed. The sky was nondescript and the light was fading although it wasn’t yet dark enough to switch on the lamps. In this dreary light, the house felt brooding and shadowy – fully expressing the legacy of its Victorian roots, despite what we’d done to bring it up to date.

Rohan had been for a post-work meeting and I was halfway down a bottle of wine by the time I heard his key in the door. I waited for the pause as he threw his jacket over the bannister, then tracked the steps of his work shoes along the tiles of the passageway towards the kitchen. When he was at the threshold, I jumped up and squeezed my arms around him, pinning his own inside my embrace as I kissed him.

‘Hello!’

‘Give us a chance to get through the door!’ Rohan protested, and I tasted beer on his lips and smelled the pub in his beard as we kissed again, slower this time.

‘I can’t help it if I missed you. How was the meeting?’ I let him go.

Rohan pulled a beer out of the fridge and popped the lid. ‘Cheers!’

I raised my glass.

‘Well,’ he said slowly. ‘Funny you ask. It seems I may have news.’ He paused. ‘Tell me… what do you think about moving to… New York, New York?’ He put the beer down and did jazz hands.

‘What?’ I said, struggling to catch up as my insides fell through me. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes. They want to send me to New York – initially for a couple of months but it could easily be extended if we decide we want to stay. What do you think?’ My mouth opened and closed, utterly speechless. ‘I’m thinking six months,’ Rohan continued. ‘Upper East Side pad – trendy brownstone – a loft maybe? Just think, Abs: Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Central Park, MOMA, the Guggenheim… the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art… and your birthday in New York!’