BooksBarbecue
Back The Other Daughter Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. OCTOBER 2014 London, UK
  4. PART ONE
  5. FEBRUARY 1976 London, UK
  6. JUNE 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  7. FEBRUARY 1976 London, UK
  8. JUNE 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  9. MARCH 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  10. JUNE 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  11. MARCH 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  12. JUNE 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  13. MARCH 1976 Lausanne/Bern, Switzerland
  14. JUNE 2016 Lausanne, Switzerland
  15. MARCH 1976 London, UK
  16. JUNE 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  17. MARCH 1976 London, UK
  18. PART TWO
  19. APRIL 1976 London, UK
  20. JUNE 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  21. APRIL 1976 Oxfordshire/London, UK
  22. JULY 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  23. MAY 1976 London, UK
  24. JULY 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  25. MAY 1976 London, UK
  26. JULY 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  27. JUNE 1976 London, UK
  28. JULY 2016 Lausanne/Montreux, Switzerland
  29. JUNE 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  30. JULY 2016 Thun/Reichenbach, Switzerland
  31. JULY 1976 London, UK
  32. AUGUST 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  33. PART THREE
  34. AUGUST 1976 London, UK
  35. AUGUST 2016 Lausanne, Switzerland
  36. SEPTEMBER 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  37. AUGUST 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  38. SEPTEMBER 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  39. AUGUST 2016 Montreux, Switzerland
  40. SEPTEMBER 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  41. AUGUST 2016 Montreux/Lutry, Switzerland
  42. SEPTEMBER 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  43. AUGUST 2016 Lutry, Switzerland
  44. SEPTEMBER 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland
  45. AUGUST 2016 Lutry, Switzerland
  46. OCTOBER 1976 London, UK
  47. AUGUST 2016 Vevey, Switzerland
  48. SEPTEMBER 2016 London, UK
  49. Author’s Note
  50. Acknowledgements
  51. More from the Author
  52. About the Author

I have to wait for a quiet moment one sunny mid-week morning to sneak back into Julia and Michel’s bedroom. Maria won’t be round until 2pm. Léa and Luca are outside in the garden. I know I don’t have long before I’ll have to be out there breaking up a squabble or tending to a mild injury. But that’s okay, because I don’t intend to be long. I know what I want.

September eighteenth. That’s when Léa said Julia’s birthday was when I asked her. Couldn’t remember how old she was though. Part of me feels relieved. But the other part feels an ominous sense of foreboding. Okay, so we don’t share a birthday, but we’re only two weeks apart – or could be, if Julia’s my age.

I go straight for the drawer and slide it open. I riffle through the contents until I get to the folder I saw before. I open it, flick through the papers and take out the marriage certificate. Their ages are written next to their names: Julia Sarah Meier, 26; Michel Jean-Pierre Chevalley, 29. I quickly do the maths and my stomach plunges to realise that yes, she’s my age. Julia will be forty in September – just two weeks after me. I put the marriage certificate back and take out the letter from A. Meier that I found last time. Could this be Julia’s mother? I unfold the paper and run my hand over the ink. I can’t understand a word but the handwriting is beautiful. I copy the address into my journal. Hopfenweg 31, Thun. It’s dated 2004. She’s probably long gone.

My phone pings and I jump like a rabbit at a gun, my elbow knocking into the dressing table. One of Julia’s necklaces falls off the side of the mirror onto the wooden top. A bead smashes. Shit. My heart races as I wait, listening, hoping no footsteps are coming down the hall. But there’s nothing. I take my phone out of my back pocket and open the message.

Hola guapa. Hope you’re dealing ok with all your crazy shit. I’m playing with my band at a jazz club in Lausanne on Thursday night. If you can get away, come?

Bloody Jorge. Is he psychic? Can he sense I’m in here? My shame rises as though he’s caught me all over again.