Life After Life (59 page)
Authors: Kate Atkinson
11 February 1910
MRS HADDOCK SIPPED a glass of hot rum, in what she hoped was a ladylike way. It was her third and she was beginning to glow from the inside out. She had been on her way to help deliver a baby when the snow had forced her to take refuge in the snug of the Blue Lion outside Chalfont St Peter. It was not a place she would have ever considered entering, except out of necessity, but there was a roaring fire in the snug and the company was proving surprisingly convivial. Horse brasses and copper jugs gleamed and twinkled. The public bar, where the drink seemed to flow particularly freely, was an altogether rowdier place. A sing-song was currently in progress there and Mrs Haddock was surprised to find her toe tapping in accompaniment.
‘You should see the snow,’ the landlord said, leaning across the great polished depth of the brass bar counter. ‘We could all be stuck here for days.’
‘Days?’
‘You may as well have another tot of rum. You won’t be going anywhere in a hurry tonight.’
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following:
Andrew Janes (the National Archives in Kew)
Dr Juliet Gardiner
Lt Col M Keech BEM R Signals
Dr Pertti Ahonen (Department of History, Edinburgh University)
Frederike Arnold
Annette Weber
And also my agent, Peter Straus, and Larry Finlay, Marianne Velmans, Alison Barrow and everyone at Transworld Publishers, as well as Camilla Ferrier and everyone at the Marsh Agency.
To know more about the writing of this book (including a bibliography), please visit my website,
www.kateatkinson.co.uk
.
About the Author
Kate Atkinson
won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel,
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
, and has been a critically acclaimed international author ever since. Her four most recent bestsellers featured the former private detective Jackson Brodie:
Case Histories
,
One Good Turn
,
When Will There Be Good News?
and
Started Early, Took My Dog
. She was appointed MBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Also by Kate Atkinson
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Human Croquet
Emotionally Weird
Not the End of the World
Case Histories
One Good Turn
When Will There Be Good News?
Started Early, Took My Dog
For more information on Kate Atkinson and her books, see her website at
www.kateatkinson.co.uk
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
A Random House Group Company
www.transworldbooks.co.uk
LIFE AFTER LIFE
A DOUBLEDAY BOOK: 9780385618670
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781409043799
First published in Great Britain
in 2013 by Doubleday
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Kate Costello Ltd, 2013
Kate Atkinson has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies outside the UK can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
A Random House Group Company
www.transworldbooks.co.uk
LIFE AFTER LIFE
A DOUBLEDAY BOOK: 9780385618670
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781409043799
First published in Great Britain
in 2013 by Doubleday
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Kate Costello Ltd, 2013
Kate Atkinson has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies outside the UK can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009
Table of Contents