Frankissstein
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This story is an invention that sits inside another invention – reality itself. Alcor is a real place. So is Manchester. So was Bedlam. The tunnels under Manchester are there – but not quite as I have described them. Some characters in this story existed, or still do. Others are fictions. None of the conversations took place in the way that they appear here – or perhaps at all. I hope I have caused no offence to the living or to the dead. This is a story.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to everyone who has worked with me on this book at Jonathan Cape and VINTAGE, especially Rachel Cugnoni, Ana Fletcher, Bethan Jones and Laura Evans. And to Susie Orbach, who believes in the biological human more than I do.
This book is dedicated to my godchildren, Ellie and Cal Shearer, who will work to make the future they want to see.
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Copyright © Jeanette Winterson 2019
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Jeanette Winterson has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
The lines ‘We may lose and we may win though we will never be here again’ and ‘Looking for a lover who won’t blow my cover’ are from the song ‘Take It Easy’, lyrics by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey.
The line ‘There’s a pretty little thing waiting for the king’ is from the song ‘Walking in Memphis’, lyrics by Marc Cohn.
First published by Jonathan Cape in 2019
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781473563254