A girlfriend remarked, within the thick of the maelstrom, ‘Nikki, you will look back on this time at your grave, and you will laugh.’ I couldn’t see it then, but gradually, over the years, could. Because what I found in the long run was that honesty connects; that there’s an incredible potency to telling the truth. People respond, movingly. It was empowering to have women say things like ‘Thank you for writing my words,’ or ‘Thank you for saying the things I’ve never been able to articulate.’ They did, for years afterwards. In fact still are.
And so it has come to pass. I’m a different woman now, a different writer. Looser, lighter, not so concerned about what people think of me. I found my courage through a book I didn’t want anything to do with. It took a long time. My publishers very much wanted a sequel, for this book did well for them. As for me, I wasn’t so sure, for years and years afterwards. The problem, or ‘challenge’, as my rousing editor preferred to see it, was in replicating the feeling of reckless liberation I’d had when writing anonymously. But over a decade I grew up. Let go. Strengthened. Loosened. Didn’t give a damn anymore about what people thought of me, and I think that’s one of the liberations of middle age. I found my voice. My courage. My boldness. The follow-up came swift and strong and cheeky and sure, just as Bride had. Because it’s telling the truth, once again. It’s got my name on the cover. And it feels great.
About the Author
Nikki Gemmell is the author of The Bride Stripped Bare, the original publication of which sparked tremendous media interest. Both The Bride Stripped Bare and its follow-up With My Body went on to become huge bestsellers. Nikki Gemmell has written eight novels and regular columns for the Mail on Sunday and the Australian Weekend Magazine.
For further information: nikkigemmell.com
By the Same Author
FICTION
Shiver
Cleave (published in the US as Alice Springs)
Lovesong
The Bride Stripped Bare
The Book of Rapture
With My Body
NON-FICTION
Pleasure: An Almanac for the Heart
Why You Are Australian
Honestly: Notes on Life
Copyright
Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith
London W6 8JB
www.4thestate.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate 2013
Copyright © Nikki Gemmell 2013
‘Anonymity’ © Nikki Gemmell 2012
‘Anonymity’ first appeared in Honestly: Notes on Life
Nikki Gemmell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Illustrations by Jo Walker
Cover photograph © Mat Taylor
Ebook Edition © MAY 2013 ISBN: 9780007516605
Version: 2013-08-07
About the Publisher
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United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
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United States
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