The Lily in the Snow
Page 39
Violette made a small gesture that meant she needed to swallow her mouthful before replying.
Miss Lily leaned forward. Sophie noticed for the first time that the wedding ring was on her right hand, not her left. She didn’t know if she felt joy or pain at the sight. Both, perhaps. ‘Take small mouthfuls,’ Miss Lily instructed Violette quietly, ‘then if you wish to speak, you can tuck them between your back teeth and your cheek. Try it.’
Violette took a minute portion of scallop mornay. ‘Like this?’
‘Ah, yes, excellent tucking,’ approved Miss Lily.
‘When the waiter comes again, look up at him, but count to five before you smile,’ advised Sophie.
‘Why must I do that?’
‘Because it works,’ said Green. She looked at Jones, then slowly, very slowly, smiled.
‘Oh, yes, it works,’ said Jones. ‘Though I am not sure our daughter needs to know that yet. Nor other things . . .’
‘Of course she does,’ said Miss Lily. ‘Violette will be a charming “lovely lady”.’
‘I already charm men,’ declared Violette.
‘Only needy ones, my dear,’ said Miss Lily. ‘Men who wish to believe that a person with youth and beauty like yours can desire them. Do you really wish to attract men like that?’
Violette considered. ‘No,’ she decided. ‘Not now I am the ward of a rich woman. Unless, of course, it might be useful. What should I call you?’ she asked Miss Lily. ‘Are you my aunt, as her ladyship is?’
‘You will call me Miss Lily.’
Sophie smiled, the ten-second kind of smile that grew into a gleeful grin. That kind of smile worked as well. She caught Miss Lily’s eye, and felt warmth and joy flow through her. ‘This is going to be a most instructive voyage,’ she murmured.
‘Indeed,’ said Miss Lily, spooning up her chicken consommé with pleasure, and the grace no other could achieve.
And at the end of the voyage, wondered Sophie? Not just this journey upon the ocean, but the expedition that would be her life from this moment on?
She did not know the details; nor was her mind free enough yet of the anguish and confusion of the last months to even try to think of details now.
But she knew there would be love. Love in many flavours, a thousand tastes of love: love of children, friends, a lover perhaps, even if she automatically stopped that thought then placed a wall around it. But not a stone wall. A wall of strips of stringybark, perhaps, like the roof of ‘John’s’ old hut.
There’d be the love of colleagues and comrades, and each of those had a thousand different tangs and savours too. Each person in the world was capable of infinite varieties of love.
Nor could love die. Nigel’s love still clothed her, and she would always welcome it. Nigel Vaile, beloved husband, father, friend.
Green lifted her glass, the champagne sparkling almost as brightly as the chandeliers. ‘To Nigel,’ she said.
‘To Nigel,’ said Miss Lily, her voice soft with grief for the man who’d ceased to be.
‘To my darling Nigel,’ whispered Sophie, knowing that Miss Lily’s tears matched her own.
Book 1 Advert Miss Lily and Her Lovely Ladies
MEET MISS LILY AND HER LOVELY LADIES . . .
BOOK 1 — Out now
A tale of espionage, love and passionate heroism
Inspired by true events, this is the story of how society’s ‘lovely ladies’ won a war.
Each year at secluded Shillings Hall, in the snow-crisped English countryside, the mysterious Miss Lily draws around her young women selected from Europe’s royal and most influential families. Her girls are taught how to captivate a man — and find a potential husband — at a dinner, in a salon, or at a grouse shoot, and in ways that would surprise outsiders. For in 1914, persuading and charming men is the only true power a woman has.
Sophie Higgs is the daughter of Australia’s king of corned beef and the only ‘colonial’ brought to Shillings Hall. Of all Miss Lily’s lovely ladies, however, she is also the only one who suspects Miss Lily’s true purpose.
As the chaos of war spreads, women across Europe shrug off etiquette.
The lovely ladies and their less privileged sisters become the unacknowledged backbone of the war, creating hospitals, canteens and transport systems where bungling officials fail to cope. And when tens of thousands can die in a single day’s battle, Sophie must use the skills Miss Lily taught her to prevent war’s most devastating weapon yet.
‘The story is equal parts Downton Abbey and wartime action, with enough romance and intrigue to make it 100% not-put-down-able.’
Australian Women’s Weekly on Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies
Book 2 Advert The Lily and the Rose
THE WAR IS OVER, BUT CAN THERE EVER TRULY BE PEACE?
BOOK 2 — Out now
Australian heiress Sophie Higgs was ‘a rose of no-man’s land’, founding hospitals across war-torn Europe during the horror that was WW1.
Now, in the 1920s, Sophie’s wartime work must be erased so that the men who returned can find some kind of ‘normality’.
Sophie is, however, a graduate of the mysterious Miss Lily’s school of charm and intrigue, and once more she risks her own life as she attempts to save others still trapped in the turmoil and aftermath of war.
But in this new world, nothing is clear, in politics or in love. For the role of men has changed too. Torn between the love of three very different men, Sophie will face her greatest danger yet as she attempts an impossible journey across the world to save Nigel, Earl of Shillings — and her beloved Miss Lily.
In this sequel to the bestselling Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies, Jackie French draws us further into a compelling story that celebrates the passion and adventure of an unstoppable army of women who changed the world.
‘If you’ve sped your way through The Crown and are looking for another historical drama fix to sink your teeth into, The Lily and the Rose is going to fast become your next obsession.’
New Idea on Miss Lily and the Rose
About the Author
JACKIE FRENCH AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 Australian Children’s Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016 Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children’s literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction for many different age groups. ‘Share a Story’ was the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term as Laureate.
jackiefrench.com
facebook.com/authorjackiefrench
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia
First published in Australia in 2019
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Jackie French 2019
The right of Jackie French to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Rosedale 0632, Auckland, New Zealand
A 75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India
1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, United Kingdom
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower, 22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3, Canada
195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA
ISBN 978 1 4607 5384 2 (paperback)
ISBN 9
78 1 4607 0838 5 (ebook)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia
Cover design by Lisa White
Cover images: Woman © Ildiko Neer / Trevillion Images; all other images by istockphoto.com