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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

Sylvia smiled, hearing Maggie in Evelyne’s words. If those two brilliant women thought she could do it, maybe she just could. ‘I suppose we’ll just have to see what happens,’ she said. ‘To the both of us.’

Evelyne picked up her cup of coffee. ‘To women. Santé.’

‘Santé.’

It was just after they’d toasted the future that Sylvia looked down to see a circle of blood growing steadily outwards across her skirt.

AUGUST 2016 Montreux, Switzerland

JESS

I’m sitting next to Julia in the car and I don’t know why I’m here.

‘Let me drive you. We haven’t had much time to chat recently and I’m going that way anyway,’ she said this morning. Daniel Buchs still hasn’t replied, and I can’t bear to spend all day refreshing my email. I’m hoping the art exhibition will be a distraction, and I was quite looking forward to taking the train to the gallery in Martigny on my own, spending the half-hour journey contemplating my crazy mixed-up life while watching the mountains go by. It’s Sunday, Julia’s only day at home, and I want to scream at her to actually spend this time with her family, not with me. But she insisted, so here I am, snapping my seatbelt on and watching her pull into the traffic. I wonder, with a growing sense of unease, why she insisted quite so much.

She doesn’t say anything for the first few minutes and the silence goads me. I want to ask her about how she grew up, about her home life, the absent father and single mother that Michel talked about, the parents who could possibly be mine. I open my mouth, and then close it again.

We’re on the high motorway above the lake when she finally says it.

‘I know what you did, Jess.’

My stomach plunges. I look at her. Her eyes are fixed on the road ahead and she’s smiling in a serene way that freaks me out.

‘I know you signed for the package from Coca-Cola. I called the delivery company. They emailed me a scan of your signature. So I know you received it, but what I don’t understand is why you didn’t give it to me.’

I look away, out at the lake. Sweat beads on the back of my neck. ‘I don’t know,’ I admit.

Julia sighs, and I understand she knows it isn’t really about the package.