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Back Where The Story Starts Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. 55
  60. 56
  61. 57
  62. 58
  63. BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  65. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clio knew the story of her birth. It had gone down in the annals of family folklore, how her father had been AWOL when her mother had gone into labour, how he couldn’t be located and had missed the whole thing. When the story had been raised, always by her mother when her father had stepped out of line, it had been as a joke, but with just enough bitter resentment for Clio to recognise that her mother had never quite forgiven him. Now Clio wondered to herself: did her father’s absence have something to do with this tiny, hand-drawn heart?

Something had made Clio uneasy. It felt odd that her father had had this battered old notebook on him when he died, when the latest entry she could find related to 2002, over fifteen years earlier. It must have been so precious to him that he held it close. So precious . . . or so confidential?

Even though she had known that she was safe in her own home, Clio had looked over her shoulder just to check that she wasn’t being watched. She’d felt guilty, like a child who was up to no good and might get caught at any moment. Then, with her heart pumping harder, she had begun to work her way through the whole notebook, scrutinising every page for anything that might help explain what she was looking at, but nothing made things any clearer. Then, towards the back, she had found the address of a house in Whitley Bay, the address that had taken her to Leah.

What would her father have thought if he’d known that she and Leah were now friends, that Leah had been to the Hall? Clio hoped he would have liked that, although she wasn’t sure that she could second-guess how he might have reacted. In the past she would have been certain that she knew him well enough to know all his thoughts. Now she wasn’t so sure.

41

41

MELISSA – THEN

Melissa was planting some petunias in the front garden when the posh woman who was married to Ray’s brother turned up again. For a moment, Melissa had to dig deep into her memory to even work out where they had met before. It had been years since she had last visited. Leah had been, what, about five? She was eleven now, so it wasn’t really any surprise that Melissa’s memory was kind of hazy.