The Library
Chapters (57)
Cover
THE LIBRARY
Bella Osborne
AN IMPRINT OF HEAD OF ZEUS
Copyright
First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Bella Osborne, 2021
The moral right of Bella Osborne to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN E: 9781801100465
ISBN PBO: 9781801100489
Cover design © The Brewster Project
Aria
c/o Head of Zeus
First Floor East
5–8 Hardwick Street
London EC1R 4RG
Dedication
For The Shed Gang:
Anne, Carol, Charlotte, Emma, Heather, Jane and Riannah
– I love you guys!
Contents
Welcome Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Epilogue
Questions for your Book Club
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Become an Aria Addict
1
TOM
My name is Tom Harris and I am invisible.
Not actually invisible – that would make me interesting and I’m not. I’m the person others find easy to forget. The one who is lost in the crowd. To be honest it suits me to be invisible. I hate it when I get noticed and I’m thrown into the spotlight, I’d rather be lost in the white noise of life. My neck goes red and blotchy at all sorts of unhelpful moments, like if a teacher asks me a question. ‘Thomas Harris, what do you think the author meant by “We are responsible for each other”?’ How would I know? I’m always Thomas Harris at school or Tom H. Never just Tom or Thomas. It’s a really common name at my school. There are five Thomases in my year. There’s a confident one, a sporty one, a loud and funny one, a stroppy one that the girls seem to like and then there’s me, the other one.