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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 peered at her daughter’s squirming foot, poking out of the blanket she had just kicked off, and saw the little brown mark, as small as a pinprick. She hadn’t noticed it before, and it momentarily surprised her that she didn’t already know every inch of the body she had herself created. But then Jessica was so new to this world, so freshly made, and Sylvia so overwhelmed, that she supposed it wasn’t surprising at all. She’d only held her daughter once, briefly, before the nurse said she had to go back in the incubator and presented her with a breast pump in exchange.

‘We’ve got so much to discover about her,’ Jim said. ‘What colour will her hair be? How tall will she be? Will she have a good singing voice?’

‘That’s doubtful, judging by the two of us.’

‘Will she be good at sports? Will she want to follow us into journalism? Will she like Marmite? I want to know everything.’

Sylvia took his hand and leaned into him, gazing at the incubator. ‘You will. We have a lifetime to find out.’

He smiled at her. ‘I can’t wait.’

They kissed her, Jessica Tallis-Millson, and headed out of the room, past the other babies in their cribs, their tiny warm breaths mingling in the air as one.

AUGUST 2016 Montreux/Lutry, Switzerland

JESS