Contents ( 57)
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sharon Gosling
Toby felt a frisson of excitement tick through his ribcage. ‘And all inscribed?’
‘And all inscribed,’ Rachel confirmed, and she unwrapped the dove-grey volumes one by one. ‘I’m going to open them chronologically.’
The note in the front of Pride and Prejudice read:
For my darling wife Eveline, on our anniversary. Another year together will surely restore our joy despite our terrible loss. Be strong, dear heart. Together we will heal. We will. J.C.M.
‘Ah,’ said Toby.
‘Indeed,’ Rachel agreed, ‘I think it’s safe to assume from that inscription that the baby Eveline was carrying when James gifted her Sense and Sensibility died either before birth or very shortly afterwards, hence there being no record of a child. Now, here is Mansfield Park,’ she went on. ‘This was published in 1813, when the lighthouse would have been under construction…’
For my darling Eveline. Your ingenuity and talent astonish me, and your improving spirits lift my own. Your tower will be a fitting tribute to our beautiful lost boy. Brava, and Godspeed – James
‘And here is Emma, which was published shortly before Christmas of 1815, when the tower would have been newly completed,’ Rachel said, picking up the final book and opening it for him to see.
For my darling wife and your glorious library. You are a wonder. All my love and devotion, for ever and always – James.
Toby leaned back in his chair. He felt as if the roof above him had suddenly opened, revealing an endless spread of stars.
‘Eveline MacDonald,’ he said quietly.
‘I wonder what her middle name was,’ Rachel said. ‘For some reason I think it was Anne.’
Toby leaned forward again, watching as she carefully packed away the Austens. ‘Why were they under Cullen’s bed?’
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ Rachel said. ‘I think they were originally up there in the camera obscura room, but he brought them down. He couldn’t do anything about the rest of Eveline’s papers, but the books were easy to conceal. Also, they’re true antiquarian gems. The book lover in him just couldn’t bear to leave them up there, sealed away where they could be damaged without him even knowing.’
They were both silent for a few minutes, thinking.
‘We’re going to have to reassess everything,’ Toby said. ‘If E.A.M. was Eveline MacDonald and not Edward McCreedy…’
‘I’m certain she was,’ Rachel said. ‘It fits far better than Edward McCreedy, doesn’t it? And that letter, the one left on the camera obscura plinth – can I see it?’
Toby opened his laptop and retrieved the very first file he’d scanned. They looked at it together, the handwriting now so familiar to both of them that it was slowly becoming easier to read.
‘“The tower must stand, for both of them,”’ Rachel read aloud. ‘I never understood what that line meant before, but she’s talking about her husband and her son. She first built it as a monument to their dead son, who must also have been called James. A stillbirth, perhaps, because he certainly never lived long enough to factor into the family records. Stillbirths weren’t grieved in the same way in this period, and likely wouldn’t even have been recorded officially. Eveline probably wouldn’t even have had a grave to visit to remember her lost child.’