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Back The Winter Garden
Chapters (54)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. ALSO BY ALEXANDRA BELL
  4. DEDICATION
  5. Prologue
  6. Part One
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. Part Two
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. Part Three
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. Acknowledgements
  54. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

‘Please don’t cry.’

Beatrice looked up and saw that her father had been replaced by the Spider Queen. Clad in a cobwebbed gown, she sat in the guide’s seat, trailing her fingers lazily in the water, apparently unconcerned by the presence of alligators. Around her, several white spiders spun beautiful pictures in the spokes of the boat’s steering wheel, and in the gap under the bench, and between the sticks of the Spider Queen’s hair comb.

There is no need to fear the spiders, Beatrice, the queen’s kind voice whispered inside her head from all those years ago. Their only wish is to consume your nightmares and protect your dreams …

‘I didn’t say goodbye,’ Beatrice said now. ‘When I had the chance.’

The Spider Queen looked up, delicate white spiders dripping like diamonds from her slender fingers. ‘We each have our own peculiar heartbreaks,’ she said. ‘And we all ask why it must be so. But remember the garden? Life needs dark leaves in the wreath. It is the way of things.’

‘Why can’t I find you?’ Beatrice asked. ‘Over a year of searching, and I have come nowhere close to the Winter Garden.’

The Spider Queen sighed. ‘It only appears when people most need it,’ she said. ‘You know that.’

‘But I do need you,’ Beatrice said. ‘Badly.’

The Spider Queen made no response, and Beatrice’s gaze fell upon the three webs. One spider had spun an image of a key. The second, a horse. And the third, a plum. She was about to press the Spider Queen further when a hand on her shoulder gently shook her awake and she found herself back in the canoe with her guide. The queen and her spiders were gone. Beatrice realised she must have dozed off as they made their way back down the Sarawak River.

The dream left her feeling unsettled and cloaked in a darker mood than ever. She could feel herself perilously close to that deep pit she had been in before and had no wish to return to. It was a pit she thought had been a consequence of her stifling life at home, and not one she had expected to encounter whilst travelling. She tried to tell herself there was no need to feel low. Even if she never found the Winter Garden, she was living the sort of life she had always wanted, and she was free. Was that not enough? Still, every nerve felt strained to its limit by the time she got back to the hotel.