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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

And then the rumours started. Stories about Tom that she’d overheard – stories about him perhaps not being faithful. Grace, shy and apologetic, her lips in a judgemental pout patting the sofa next to her: ‘Come and sit down, Abs. There’s something I have to tell you. I hate to be the one…’ but she’d seen him in a pub in town with a younger girl – much younger – maybe even one of his pupils.

‘They looked cosy, Abs,’ she said, reaching for my hand. ‘I’m only telling you because I care. I’d want to know if it were me.’ She’d peered into my eyes and I’d tried to read her expression: concern? Or schadenfreude?

I’d asked Tom and he’d denied it. I believed him, but the crack was there, the seed planted, and Grace was very good at watering seeds.

‘You deserve better,’ she said. ‘You shouldn’t let him treat you like this. He walks all over you. The age gap warps the power ratio.’

Tom hadn’t believed that I was breaking up with him.

I did it in a busy café, cups of coffee in front of both of us, a smile on Tom’s face to begin with as we faced each other across a table for two. But then I’d told him.

‘Abi,’ he’d said, the hurt pooling in his eyes as he stroked a lock of hair from my face. ‘What happened? I thought we were good.’

We were. I closed my eyes, unwilling to see the concern on his face. We were good.

‘Was it something I did?’

I squeezed my eyes tighter to stop the tears from spilling, and shook my head. I know what Grace said, but I didn’t believe it; didn’t believe there was anything but a reasonable explanation – if he in fact had been seen out with a younger woman.

‘I just think it’s for the best.’

‘The best for who?’ His voice rose. ‘Abi? For who? Because this is not something that I want. Not at all.’

It’s not you; it’s me. Such a cliché I couldn’t say it, although it was the truth.

‘I just…’ I turned my face away. ‘Tom, please.’

‘Look, I know we don’t talk about the future, but I’d imagined us together long term. Really long term. I know I don’t believe in marriage and diamond rings, but, in as much as I believe anything, you’re The One.’ A pause. Words I’d longed to hear, but not now, not like this. ‘I’ve actually never felt like this before.’

‘Stop it.’

‘I need you to know that. I need you to know that wherever this is coming from, it’s not a feeling I that echo.’