Now the cats came in from the garden, but they lingered at the door, unwilling, so Ellen leaned down and made kissing noises; then they approached with caution.
“You really are a lifesaver,” Phillip said, and that was awkward because—in the case of the cats, at least—it may have been true.
The cats wore imbecile expressions; they jumped superstitiously at their own tails, trimmed their tidy claws, and sniffed at Ellen’s offered fingers with mild curiosity. Phillip told her they weren’t eating a thing.
“In the spirit of full disclosure,” he said, “the tabby, the boy, throws up at least once a day.”
The tweedy boy cat looked vacantly at Ellen. He allowed himself to be handled into a carrier she had bought specially, and the tortoiseshell girl was similarly docile. They were fragile bundles beneath their important fur. They made no noise as they were carried from the house or were settled into the backseat, but they howled as the car descended the hill, with plaintive, inconsolable cries. As she drove past the bus stop, Ellen saw a cloud of seagulls rise in a body from the sea. They lunged for the sky, then fell back.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my family, Lyn, Ian, Katrina, Evan, and Bonita McFarlane; I think also of my grandmothers, Hilda May Davis and Winifred Elsie Mary McFarlane. I’d also like to thank my teachers, especially Elizabeth McCracken, Steve Harrigan, Alan Gurganus, and Margot Livesey. I’m grateful to Stephanie Cabot, Chris Parris-Lamb, Anna Worrall, Rebecca Gardner, Will Roberts, and everyone at the Gernert Company; also to my editors, Mitzi Angel, Ben Ball, Meredith Rose, and Carole Welch. This book was written with the generous assistance of the Australia Council for the Arts; the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; St. John’s College, Cambridge; Phillips Exeter Academy; and the Michener Center for Writers—in association with these wonderful places, I’d like to thank Salvatore Scibona, Roger Skillings, Charles Pratt, Marla Akin, Debbie Dewees, Michael Adams, and Jim Magnuson. Finally, I must thank my friends, especially Mimi Chubb, Kate Finlinson, Virginia Reeves, and, most of all, Emma Jones.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fiona McFarlane was born in Sydney, Australia. She has degrees in English from Sydney University and Cambridge University, and was a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Sydney.
Faber and Faber, Inc.
An affiliate of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
18 West 18th Street, New York 10011
Copyright © 2013 by Fiona McFarlane
All rights reserved
First edition, 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McFarlane, Fiona, 1978–
The night guest / Fiona McFarlane. — First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-86547-773-5 (hardback)
1. Widows—Fiction. 2. Caregivers—Fiction. 3. Australia—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9619.4.M38355 N54 2013
823'.92—dc23
2013022511
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eISBN 9780374710644
The Night Guest Page 24
