A Parcel for Anna Browne

by Miranda Dickinson

  She kicked at a scrap of cardboard that had fallen from one of the many boxes now making their way to the storage unit she knew she would never visit. On top of the one remaining carton of her former belongings, she saw the small frame that contained a photograph of her mother. Picking it up, she surveyed the unsmiling elderly lady – an expression she had faced for much of her life. Disappointment. Irritation. Judgement.

  Your father wanted a son.

  How was any child supposed to answer that? Her father had only lived long enough to see her first job and had been singularly unimpressed by his daughter’s chosen career. You’re no better than a rag merchant, Juliet. Airing others’ private business for all and sundry to see – you call that a decent way to make a living? Perhaps that was why she had never wanted children. No child deserved to be the disappointment of its parents – and she suspected she had inherited more of their lack of compassion than she liked to think. She couldn’t offer a child what it needed.

  ‘Well, I did it, Mother,’ she said to the old woman’s too-blue eyes. ‘Like it or not, I’m a success.’

  There had been one time – one blissful moment in the muted beige surroundings of the hospice – when she’d had a glimpse of a different Vivienne Taylor-Evans, as her mother slipped into a rare moment of lucidity in the middle of her confusion. As had become usual, Juliet had been listening to her mother’s pitifully bewildered questions, from the eight-year-old Vivienne assumed she still was: Where’s my mummy? When’s she coming to take me home? I don’t like it here. I’m scared. Are you my mummy?

  As she had done countless times before, Juliet had answered patiently, reassuring Vivienne that all was well. Then Vivienne blinked – and a glimpse of her mother returned.

  ‘You’ve done well, haven’t you, Ju-Ju?’

  Juliet had gawped at her mother, torn between wanting to cry and wanting to leave. ‘I have,’ she managed.

  ‘The nurse said you’re famous. That would have annoyed your father.’

  ‘And you?’ Juliet had pushed her luck, not knowing how long this shadow would remain. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Oh, I’m quite happy.’ And then the elderly woman retreated to the terrified child, intense blue fear reclaiming her eyes. ‘Can I go home now?’

  In forty-nine years of motherhood, these were the only words of comfort Vivienne had given her daughter.

  Bracing against the old, familiar pain, Juliet placed the photo frame underneath a pile of journals in the box and glared out at the city, as if denying the hurt it might have seen in the top-floor office of the Daily Messenger building. She had grieved for her mother, but now it was time to move on. She had to leave as she had arrived, thirty years before: head held high and ambition powering her steps. That she was leaving to a wide, empty void was a truth only she needed to know . . .

  ‘I’m still fine, Piers,’ she barked irritably when another knock came at the door. When her assistant didn’t enter, she marched over and swung it open, preparing to unleash one final tirade on her almost-ex-colleague. ‘Oh.’

  The courier gave a sheepish smile. ‘Parcel for the editor?’

  ‘This should have been signed for in reception.’

  ‘They said to bring it up.’ He offered the package to Juliet. ‘I need a signature.’

  Juliet was about to tell the courier – Narinder, according to his name badge – exactly what he could do with the parcel that was clearly intended for her successor, not wanting so physical a reminder of the end of her reign. But then a thought occurred to her: this could be the last delivery she would open as editor of the Daily Messenger. It was a sorry excuse for a sentimental symbol, but in the face of an already emptied office, it would have to suffice.

  ‘Fine.’ She snatched the parcel from the courier’s hands and quickly scribbled her surname on the delivery sheet.

  ‘Cheers.’ He paused, his smile steady.

  ‘Was there something else?’

  ‘Just – all the best for the future, yeah? Have a good one, you know. Be happy and that.’

  Juliet stared after him as he strolled back down the corridor. Perhaps it was good she was leaving today, if random sentimentality was breaking out across the building. She closed the door and wandered back into her office, inspecting the parcel. It was about the size of a shoebox, the name and address written in a neat hand. Turning it over, she noticed that both ends of the brown-paper covering had been folded to identical length – something her mother had insisted upon whenever they wrapped presents for Hanukkah and birthdays.

  ‘Tidy wrapping equals a calm mind,’ Vivienne would intone, watching over Juliet as she folded and refolded the wrapping paper to perfect her skills. It was one thing Juliet had retained from her childhood to which she still adhered today. Achieving the perfect folds was strangely comforting; as if by doing so she would earn the approval from her mother that she had sought all her life.

  A single chair remained by the window – her beloved white Italian leather seat, which would be making its way to her Berkshire home as soon as her driver arrived. Sitting down, the view of the city stretching away from her feet, she carefully lifted one corner, then the other, taking care to open each tape-fastening as if unpacking a priceless object. She had driven her parents half to distraction with her fastidiousness as a child, but Juliet secretly liked to make the moment last. Surprises were something she generally loathed, but a little magic still remained around the opening of gifts – even if she suspected this one was not intended for her.

  Inside the innocuous brown wrapping she discovered a sea-green box, and beneath its lid a covering of sunshine-yellow tissue paper. It reminded her of the few happy holidays she had spent on the Kent coast with her grandparents, before their deaths the year she started boarding school. The tissue whispered apart to reveal a reproduction Victorian cut-out paper doll. An accompanying card featured a series of outfits printed in gaudy colours: an explorer’s outfit with tight bodice, long skirt, heeled boots and a pith helmet; a beautiful turquoise evening dress with elegant fan and pearls at the neck; a pirate queen’s garb with striped bodice and a black shawl tied across the hips of the wide purple skirt; and a bride’s lace-layered gown. Each outfit’s outline included square tabs that, when prised from the card, could be folded over the doll to ‘dress’ it. Beneath the doll was a small, leather-bound travel journal, embossed with a faded gold design of ancient seafaring maps. Opening the journal, Juliet found a sea-green envelope, with her name written in identical hand to the parcel’s address label. Inside, on a single sheet of cream paper, was a letter:

  Dear Juliet

  From today you can be whatever you want to be. It’s your choice, your decision, and won’t be swayed one bit by this parcel. But I’ve sent this to help you decide.

  Who do you want to be today?

  And where do you want to go?

  Thank you for showing me that life is a choice and a journey. Whatever you choose to do and wherever you decide to go, it will be the right decision. Because life is too exciting to sit still for long.

  Brightest wishes

  Anna Browne x

  THE END

  Read on for exclusive material from

  Miranda Dickinson, including how to wrap

  the perfect gift . . .

  Book locations used in A Parcel for Anna Browne

  Polperro – the setting for Anna’s childhood home. I need to stress that Polperro is a gorgeous village in Cornwall, and Anna doesn’t hate it! But I wanted an idyllic, isolated location that contrasted with the difficulty Anna has growing up with her mother, in a community where nothing is hidden. I hope the community spirit and care for the young Anna and her brother Ruari come across in the story.

  Talland Bay (mentioned in Anna’s recollections) – this is just around the cliff path from Polperro, a very special place that I remember from childhood holidays. There’s a gorgeous café there now, which is well worth a visit.

  Godrevy – the place Anna and Jo
nah escape to. Godrevy is incredibly special to me and I’ve wanted to write about it for a long time. I was first taken there by my husband Bob and his family and it’s one of the most wildly romantic, ruggedly gorgeous places I’ve ever been to. While I was writing A Parcel for Anna Browne I visited Godrevy on holiday with Bob, Flo and Bob’s family, and I just knew Anna had to go there to rediscover her love for her home county. It’s a haven for surfers, has a gorgeous sandy beach perfect for families, and mile upon mile of cliff walks where skylarks wheel overhead in the summer and seals play in the coves around the feet of the cliffs. You have to go there!

  London – Anna’s home, and the setting for most of the book. Until I became a published author I’d always been nervous of my capital city. The constant busyness and detached attitude of people there can be a shock to the system when, like me, you come from a place where random strangers regularly strike up conversations with you! But, for Anna, I knew London would be the perfect place to live, precisely because she can be anonymous there, interacting with people she chooses to, whereas in her childhood home privacy was impossible. She also suspects that her absent father lives in the city, which keeps alive in her mind the tantalising possibility that she might one day bump into him. What I’ve learned to love about London now is the sheer diversity of characters and locations for a story. I loved creating venues like Tish’s favourite home-accessories shop in Marylebone High Street, Freya & Georgie’s coffee shop near the Daily Messenger building on Fleet Street and the vintage shop in Notting Hill. While these aren’t based on real shops, there are plenty of businesses like these in the city.

  My favourite gift companies

  Not On the High Street: www.notonthehighstreet.com – I’ve lost count of the number of amazing gifts I’ve found on this website. I love that it supports small craft businesses, and the attention to detail that many of the sellers give to wrapping their deliveries makes them extra-special.

  Bluebasil Brownies: www.bluebasilbrownies.co.uk – Not only are these quite possibly the most amazing brownies you’ve ever tasted, but the way they are lovingly packaged makes a delivery from them feel like the biggest treat.

  Aspire Style: www.aspirestyle.co.uk – This company has lovely shops (my favourite one is in Stratford-upon-Avon) filled with gorgeous, unusual gifts. Every purchase is wrapped in blush-pink tissue paper, which I particularly love!

  Wrapping the perfect gift

  by Lucy Ledger

  Gift-wrapping is usually an after-thought as we pass down supermarket aisles or run into a shop and grab whatever will make do. Very little time is spent on it, but as we learned from Anna’s experience, a beautifully wrapped gift is as memorable as the gift itself. It heightens the excitement and anticipation of what is inside and if we have spent money on a beautiful gift surely it deserves to be presented in a way that makes it extra special? Gift-wrapping doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive; it just requires a little thought and preparation. I have compiled my top five tips below to help give you ideas for creating a memorable wrap.

  1. Think ribbons, buttons and luggage tags! A trip to a local haberdashery or looking at online boutiques (eBay is also brilliant) can unearth a treasure trove of lovely inexpensive extras to add to your parcels and really make them stand out.

  2. If you don’t have the time to shop every time a special occasion comes around and you’d like to stock up, then try to stick to plain paper – Kraft brown parcel paper is a great idea because it’s very inexpensive and neutral. You can dress it up in all sorts of ways with any colour combination from your lovely new collection of ribbons, tags and buttons!

  3. To get a good idea of your recipient’s taste, take a look at their home. How do they decorate it? Do they love monochrome? Then a lovely parcel wrapped in black paper with luxurious white ribbon will really wow them. Do they love florals and vintage style? Think brown paper, floral tissue paper, twine and a craft brown luggage tag.

  4. A really fun and thoughtful idea for wrapping a birthday gift is the ‘Pass the Parcel’ idea. Lots of beautiful layers and a little note in every layer, each saying a thing the recipient did that year that made them so special to you.

  5. Another great and inexpensive idea is to keep hold of old boxes so you can cover them with beautiful paper. That way you can make your own mini gift sets and hampers, which are so much more thoughtful than pre-packed versions.

  Have fun and remember – the details are not just details. They all make up the special experience of receiving a very memorable gift!

  By award-winning greetings and gifts designer Lucy Ledger

  (www.lucyledger.com)

  A Parcel for Anna Browne playlist

  I put together this playlist to inspire me and create the right mood while I was writing A Parcel for Anna Browne. I hope you enjoy it!

  1. ‘All My Days’, Alexi Murdoch (Time Without Consequence)

  2. ‘Tiny Parcels’, Rue Royale (Remedies Ahead)

  3. ‘Falling Off the Face of the Earth’, Matt Wertz (Twenty Three Places)

  4. ‘Frozen’, Madonna (Ray of Light)

  5. ‘I Followed Fires’, Matthew and the Atlas (Kingdom of Your Own EP)

  6. ‘Allegory’, Kris Drever (Mark the Hard Earth)

  7. ‘Try’, Jillian Edwards (Galaxies & Such)

  8. ‘Take It from Me’, The Weepies (Say I Am You)

  9. ‘You’ve Found Love’, I Am Arrows (Sun Comes Up Again)

  10. ‘Mo Ghruagach Dhonn’, Julie Fowlis (Cuilidh)

  11. ‘Pipe Dreams’, Travis (The Invisible Band)

  12. ‘Shine’, Sam Palladio (The Music of Nashville, Season 1, Vol. 2)

  13. ‘Time’, Sarah McLachlan (Afterglow)

  14. ‘Lon-dubh / Blackbird’, Julie Fowlis (Cuilidh)

  15. ‘I Choose You’, Sara Bareilles (The Blessed Unrest)

  Author Q&A

  1. Have you always wanted to be a writer?

  Yes, for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a family who loved books and my favourite place as a little girl was my local library. I decided when I was about five that I wanted to write a book that could be on the shelves in Kingswinford Library (a tiny place in reality but a palace of dreams to me) – and that started a lifelong passion.

  2. How long did it take you to write A Parcel for Anna Browne?

  I’ve actually wanted to write Anna’s story for about three years, so I would say it took two and a half years to daydream the story and just under six months to write and edit it!

  3. Is there a particular place you like to write?

  At the moment I have an office tucked away in the spare bedroom of our house, but very soon this will become my daughter Flo’s bedroom, so I’ll have to find somewhere else!

  I’m quite partial to writing on the sofa – a throwback to when it was the only place I could write in the one-bedroom flat I was renting (and where my first four novels were written). If I have enough cushions and a blanket over my knees, I’m happy there! Coffee shops are another favourite place to write – I like the bustle and chat going on around me as I’m writing.

  For A Parcel for Anna Browne, I wrote the Godrevy and Polperro scenes during a family holiday, sitting at a kitchen table in an apartment overlooking Carbis Bay. Hearing the crash of waves and call of gulls really added to the story – perhaps one day I’ll be lucky enough to do all my writing there . . .

  4. Do you have a routine as a writer?

  Not really! I would love to be able to say I have a set routine, but I never have. For many years I juggled writing with a day job, so I fitted it in whenever and wherever I could. I naturally write better at night, so now we have Flo I’m writing after she goes to bed. Having a baby has meant I’ve had to become far more disciplined about my writing, so I keep notebooks everywhere (including the loo!) and grab moments to write and plan during the day. That way, when I write at night I know exactly what I’m doing and don’t waste time.

  5. How are you going to celebrate publication day?
/>
  I’m famously rubbish at celebrating, so I plan to do something special with Bob and Flo to celebrate this novel. We’ll probably go to Birmingham to see the book in my favourite Waterstones in New Street (which is housed in an old Victorian bank) and have a celebratory lunch.

  6. Which books have inspired you?

  For A Parcel for Anna Browne, I was particularly inspired by the books of Sarah Addison Allen. I’ve been a fan of hers since I read The Sugar Queen and I adore the sense of magic she infuses into her stories. I wanted Anna’s parcels to have that feeling of magic about them – and for the story to feel like a fable.

  7. How did you come up with the title of the book?

  This one was really easy to come up with! It’s the arrival of the parcels in Anna’s life that begins a change in how she sees herself. I liked the sense of expectation in the title, too – I feel excited if I receive a parcel, so I wanted to convey that thrill.

  8. What would you like readers to take away from A Parcel for Anna Browne?

  Firstly, I hope they love the story! I think the main thing I’d love readers to take away from Anna’s story is that the parcels, while magical and lovely, aren’t responsible for the changes in her life. They merely give her permission to be the person she wants to be. I hope readers finish A Parcel for Anna Browne believing that anything is possible.

  9. Are you writing a new novel at the moment?

  Yes, I’ve already started writing the next book and I’m very excited about it! I don’t have a deadline yet, so I’m at the lovely stage of researching, dreaming and having fun creating characters.

  10. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?