Chapters (55)

Cover
About the Author
Also by Nicholas Shakespeare
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
PART ONE
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
PART TWO
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
PART THREE
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
PART FOUR
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Acknowledgements

In the corner, Miranda’s mother was chanting to herself in the mirror: ‘She’s got hair on her pussy that sweep the floor, she’s got knobs on her titties that open the door.’

Miranda, disregarding her, poured the hot water over the coffee. ‘My favourite sentence in the world is: “Can I ask your opinion on this?”’

A while later, Dyer paused in the doorway. He stared at the envelope that he had addressed to himself, like one of those brown envelopes he opened at the last moment, and then up at her.

‘I must give you my new number.’

He watched Miranda enter it into her phone, feeling the tight pull in his chest now that he had decided to trust her. ‘I know we’ve just begun to get to know each other. Would you … I don’t want …’

She hears the catch in his voice, puts a finger to her lip. ‘Xasó putár neirúm.’

The next time they meet, she will tell him: ‘My father taught me that beginning is more precious than money.’

Chapter Forty-one