Let me know when you’ll be back.
I’ll meet you at the station.
Love you – G
Maggie set out into the hills. She’d like to read George’s words again without this town and its buildings and its people all gathered around her. She’d like to read them with wet grass under her feet and the sting of the wind on her ears. She followed the road out of the village and picked up a stick to tap against the dry-stone wall as she strolled. After half an hour or so, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that the houses were losing their height and shape. They looked, she thought, like elderly people whose strength had diminished along with their bodies, and now they were small and harmless. Maggie decided that she did not need to see Sheila tomorrow or ever. After her walk she would drive to the station, take the train southwards, back to George. It would be better to leave the village and the moors behind.
She clambered up the hill, stumbling over bumps and stones, quickening her pace as she climbed higher. The wind whipped her hair into her eyes. On the summit she bent forward to catch her breath. The landscape revolved, a blur of stone wall, gate, sheep, stile, gorse bush. She did not feel right. Perhaps it was the terrible memory of walking here once with Isabel, Bess and Julia. Cold fingers of wind tightened around her neck and wrists.
And now I lead my aunt Maggie to the grassy spot from which she can see the whole village. There it is, the long green pool. My place. But she doesn’t want to know and she turns her head away. I have to make her see that it is still my story. She is going to forget.
The wind fell. Maggie smiled and shook herself free. She narrowed her eyes to take in the view of the village and beyond. The dead girl might win after all. She might win.
Praise for SUSANNA JONES
The Missing Person’s Guide to Love
‘Jones is a mistress of unexplained menace and keeps you guessing right to the end’ Mail on Sunday
‘Anyone familiar with Jones’s two previous books will know that, in her deliriously disorientating fictional worlds, nothing is ever quite as it seems . . . Jones is a mistress of disguise, not just in her characterisation and plotting, but in her blurring of the divisions between right and wrong. Hers isn’t quite the deliberate amorality of Patricia Highsmith, but she similarly denies us any easy options when it comes to taking sides for or against her protagonists. With Isabel, Jones has fashioned her most complex, involving heroine yet and by far her most audacious sleight of hand in terms of a storyteller. To call it a twist would be to devalue what is really a hidden undercurrent of the whole narrative; nevertheless the revelation, when it comes, is breathtaking’ Martyn Bedford, Literary Review
‘Well written and the mystery is more mysterious than most’ The Times
‘An intriguing tale about the deaths of two friends . . . An engrossing read, and one that’s quite mysterious at times, this is a book that you won’t be able to put down’ Easy Living
The Earthquake Bird
‘Compelling and haunting, this delicately crafted debut novel’s tremors are felt long after the final page is turned’ Observer
‘Jones’ candid portrayal of Lucy’s insecurities makes her solitary heroine incredibly affecting. It’s remarkable the way Jones shows how when we think we’re being unflinchingly honest, we’re really moving blindly from the truth. You’ll find this story still lurking in the dark corners of your mind long after you’ve put the book down’ Face
‘In its spare way, this novel, which I have now read three times, is one of the best accounts – and this is not all that it is – of female sexuality, that subject of and mystery for any male reader . . . Try it – The Earthquake Bird’ A.N. Wilson
‘An astonishingly accomplished debut . . . it’s hard to believe that this skilfully constructed and beautifully written work is a first novel’ Susanna Yager, Daily Telegraph
‘Jones renders Lucy’s painful realisation of love lost and missed opportunity with seductive delicacy’ Guardian
THE MISSING PERSON’S
GUIDE TO LOVE
Susanna Jones grew up in Yorkshire and lived in Japan for many years. She currently resides near Brighton.
Also by Susanna Jones
THE EARTHQUAKE BIRD
WATER LILY
Thanks to Maria Rejt and all at Picador,
to my agent Bill Hamilton, to Judy Jones and all the other Joneses, to Colin McGranachan and Tolga Önce.
First published 2007 by Picador
First published in paperback 2008 by Picador
This electronic edition published 2010 by Picador
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-330-53987-6 PDF
ISBN 978-0-330-53986-9 EPUB
Copyright © Susanna Jones 2007
The right of Susanna Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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