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Back The Other Daughter
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

‘And then when we happened to give birth at the same time, in the same hospital, it felt like fate, I suppose.’

‘Fate?’

She looks at me and I see tears running down her face. ‘I’ve been so worried,’ she says.

‘About what?’ I don’t think I want to know. Dread is thumping in my chest.

‘Worried that you’ll hate me when you find out…’

I take a breath. ‘Find out what?

‘That it was me. That I swapped you with Sylvia’s baby.’

SEPTEMBER 1976 Lausanne, Switzerland

SYLVIA

She heard the cries before she saw they were coming from Anna. The sound she was making was animalistic, as though generated by her very soul. Sylvia walked as quickly as her day-old wound would allow and turned the corner to see Anna, hands on the glass wall of the nursery, Evelyne by her side.

Sylvia reached them and put her hand on Anna’s shoulder as the girl’s legs seemed to give way and she collapsed to the floor. Sylvia looked through the glass into the nursery and saw only one baby instead of two in the row both their daughters had been in, and her stomach dropped.

‘What’s happened? Where’s Anna’s baby?’ she said to Evelyne.

Evelyne put a hand out, a steadying gesture. ‘It’s okay. It’s not what you think. She’s been transferred to intensive care because she’s got a mild respiratory infection, but it’s just a precaution because she’s premature. The doctors have assured me the baby’s going to be just fine. I keep telling her, but she won’t listen.’ She looked at Anna, as though she didn’t know what to do with her.

Sylvia crouched down and put a hand on Anna’s arm. The girl looked up and the expression Sylvia saw there was desperate. ‘She’s going to be fine,’ Sylvia said. ‘I know it. They’ll both be okay, these babies of ours.’ She squeezed Anna’s arm, as though to impart some of the strength she felt, some of the faith she had in their futures, such a new feeling she almost didn’t know what to do with it.

Uncomprehending, Anna looked into her face as if she was searching for something, but Sylvia didn’t know what. Help? Reassurance? Anna put her hand on hers and said something in German. It was a rare word Sylvia recognised, but she thought she’d misheard because she didn’t understand why Anna would say it.

‘What did she say?’ She looked up at Evelyne, who shrugged, bewildered.

‘She said “I’m sorry”. But I have no idea what for.’

Evelyne said something to Anna, but she only shook her head, crying like her heart was breaking.

It took three nurses to persuade her back to her bed.

AUGUST 2016 Lutry, Switzerland

JESS