‘I hear he’s going off to Head Office shortly,’ her mother said.
‘Oh.’
‘So that’s not a problem. What else are you worrying about?’
‘My real name is Oona,’ Star said.
‘Of course it is, love.’
‘So that’s what I’m going to call myself from now on. Star hasn’t worked for me, I wasn’t bright enough or glittery enough, no light to shine on things. I’d like to be Oona now. In a year’s time people will forget I was ever called Star.’
‘All right, sweetheart,’ her mother said. It was just one more thing to cope with in the day.
And in a year’s time when Oona Sullivan won the Employee of the Year Award in the supermarket chain, it was Kenny, the Area Manager, who presented it. He was astounded to find it was the girl he knew as Star. He had never guessed it was the same person.
And when she was bridesmaid at Gemma and Kevin’s wedding, her picture was in the evening paper as Ms Oona Sullivan, sister of the groom.
And she got a postcard from Laddy who now lived far away. It said: ‘Welcome to the real world, Oona Sullivan. May you be much happier and much nicer than all those silly little stars.’
And because she was so grown up now, Oona smiled and was pleased, rather than thinking, as the old Star would have done, that the love of her life was on his way back to her.
WORLD BOOK DAY
Quick Reads
We would like to thank all our partners on the Quick Reads project for all their help and support:
BBC RaW
Department for Education and Skills
Trades Union Congress
The Vital Link
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National Literacy Trust
Quick Reads would also like to thank the Arts Council England and National Book Tokens for their sponsorship.
We would also like to thank the following companies for providing their services free of charge: SX Composing for typesetting all the titles; Icon Reproduction for text reproduction; Norske Skog, Stora Enso, PMS and Iggusend for paper/board supplies; Mackays of Chatham, Cox and Wyman, Bookmarque, White Quill Press, Concise, Norhaven and GGP for the printing.
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Quick Reads
BOOKS IN THE Quick Reads SERIES
The Book Boy
Joanna Trollope
Blackwater
Conn Iggulden
Chickenfeed
Minette Walters
Don’t Make Me Laugh
Patrick Augustus
Hell Island
Matthew Reilly
How to Change Your Life in 7 Steps
John Bird
Screw It, Let’s Do It
Richard Branson
Someone Like Me
Tom Holt
Star Sullivan
Maeve Binchy
The Team
Mick Dennis
The Thief
Ruth Rendell
Woman Walks into a Bar
Rowan Coleman
AND IN MAY 2006
Cleanskin
Val McDermid
Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe
Danny Wallace
Desert Claw
Damien Lewis
The Dying Wish
Courttia Newland
The Grey Man
Andy McNab
I Am a Dalek
Garath Roberts
I Love Football
Hunter Davies
The Name You Once Gave Me
Mike Phillips
The Poison in the Blood
Tom Holland
Winner Takes All
John Francome
Look out for more titles in the Quick Reads
series in 2007.
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Courses are free and available in your local area.
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FIRST CHOICE BOOKS
If you enjoyed this book, you’ll find more great reads on www.firstchoicebooks.org.uk. First Choice Books allows you to search by type of book, author and title. So, whether you’re looking for romance, sport, humour – or whatever turns you on – you’ll be able to find other books you’ll enjoy.
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Find out what the BBC’s RaW (Reading and Writing) campaign has to offer at www.bbc.co.uk/raw
NEW ISLAND
New Island publishers have produced four series of books in its Open Door series – brilliant short novels for adults from the cream of Irish writers. Visit www.newisland.ie and go to the Open Door section.
SANDSTONE PRESS
In the Sandstone Vista Series, Sandstone Press Ltd publish quality contemporary fiction and non-fiction books. The full list can be found at their website www.sandstonepress.com.
Quick Reads
The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope
Bloomsbury
Sometimes it takes a stranger to guess a family secret.
Alice has a house, a husband, two children and a part-time job. She ought to be happy but she isn’t because she has a secret which is never talked about in the family: she can’t read.
But Alice decides to take charge of her life and change it with the help of the strangest companion – the book boy.
Quick Reads
The Thief by Ruth Rendell
Arrow
Stealing from people who had upset her was something Polly did quite a lot. There was her Aunt Pauline, a girl at school, a boyfriend who had left her. And there was the man on the plane . . .
Humiliated and scared by a total stranger, Polly does what she always does: she steals something. But she never could have imagined that her desire for revenge would have such terrifying results.
Quick Reads
Blackwater by Conn Iggulden
HarperCollins
Blackwater is a cold, dark thriller with a twist.
Davey has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, who will stop at nothing to protect himself and his family. But when Denis Tanter comes into Davey’s life, how far will they go to get him out of trouble?
How far can you go before you’re in too deep?
Quick Reads
Woman Walks into a Bar by Rowan
Coleman
Arrow
Twenty-eight-year-old single mother Sam spends her days working in the local supermarket and her Friday nights out with her friends. Life has never been easy for Sam, but she’s always hoped one day she’ll meet ‘The One’.
She’s starting to lose hope when her friends set her up on a blind date. At first Sam’s horrified, but then she agrees – after all, you never know when you might meet the man of your dreams . . .
Quick Reads
Don’t Make Me Laugh by Patrick Augustus
The X Press
It’s not funny. Leo and Trevor are twins, but they hate each other’s guts. Leo says his brother got off with his woman. Trevor reckons it was the other way round. Only Mum can stop them ripping each other to bits. But HER big secret is that one of them has to die.
Quick Reads
Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson
Virgin
Learn the secrets of a global icon.
Throughout my life I have strived for success – as a businessman, in my adventures, as an author and a proud father and husband. I want to share the many truths I’ve learned along the road to success which have helped me to be the best I can. They include:
Have faith in yourself
Believe that anything can be done
Don’t let other people put you off
Never give up
Learn these and other simple truths, and I hope you will be inspired to get the most out of your life and to achieve your goals. People will try to talk you out of ideas and say, ‘It can’t be done,’ but if you have faith in yourself you’ll find you can achieve almost anything.
AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2006 by Orion.
This eBook first published in 2009 by Orion Books.
Copyright © Maeve Binchy 2006
Copyright © Maeve Binchy 2007
The rights of Maeve Binchy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 9781409130383
Orion Books
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper St Martin’s Lane
London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
www.orionbooks.co.uk
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