The flames were too big. The curtain man pulled the curtain woman and the boat boy back from the burning walls, and then there was a bit where everyone waited, stood back like on Bonfire Night and the music was still playing, the beat still coming through the noise of the flames.
And then the music did stop and then there came a human sound he never wants to hear again and will always be hearing, somewhere in his head, and he was right, Jack, you notice, when it stops.
Acknowledgements
This book began one wet summer in Scotland. I thank my family for believing that there’s no such thing as bad weather.
I thank my brilliant and dedicated editor, Kish Widnaratya; Camilla Elworthy and everyone at Picador in London; Jenna Johnson and the team at Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York; Anna Webber at United Agents for afternoon teas in the face of interesting times as well as superb representation and Seren Adams for second readings.
Sinéad Mooney was, as always, my first reader, and as always she was right. I thank the MacDonald-Badenoch clan for advice on titles and terms, and especially Helen MacDonald for her ear for Scottish teenagers. Thank you to Asher Kaboth for answering questions about soundwaves and wet trees, to TM for expertise on fox cubs and the dream life of deer. All errors of fact or probability remain my own.
S
UMMERWATER
Sarah Moss is the author of seven novels and a memoir of her year living in Iceland. Her most recent novel, Ghost Wall, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize.
She was born in Glasgow and grew up in the north of England. After moving between Oxford, Canterbury, Reykjavik, West Cornwall and the Midlands, she now lives in Dublin, where she teaches English and creative writing at UCD.
A
LSO BY
S
ARAH
M
OSS
Fiction
Cold Earth
Night Waking
Bodies of Light
Signs for Lost Children
The Tidal Zone
Ghost Wall
Non-fiction
Spilling the Beans: reading, writing, eating and cooking in British women’s fiction 1770 – 1830
Chocolate: A Global History
(co-authored with Alec Badenoch)
Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland
First published in the UK 2020 by Picador
This electronic edition first published in the UK 2020 by Picador
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-3544-5
Copyright © Sarah Moss 2020
Fiction Cover design and illustration Mel Four/ Picador Art Department
Images used © Getty Images/Jeff J Michell; Getty Images: Andy McGarry; Getty Images/Fen Wei Photography; Getty Images: Praveen P.N
Author photo © Sophie Davidson
The right of Sarah Moss to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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