Titles: Stoats and Weasels (RNA
New Writers' Award), A Fine Restoration, A
Peculiar Chemistry (LittleBrown) Learning to Breathe/Himmel über Waterslain, The Orchid Path/Der Orchideenpfad (Marion von Schroder/Ullstein)
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A Peculiar Chemistry
Fiercely independent, single and pregnant, university lecturer Ellis Jones has fled her career and found refuge in the small primitive Suffolk cottage she inherited from her Great Aunt Nell. Here she intends to spend the rest of her pregnancy on her own, sparing her young lover Joe from being saddled with fatherhood before he is ready. In the dusty fireplace of the cottage, she finds a diary hidden in a package addressed to herself.
At first Ellis cannot believe it is intended for her, but as she slowly reads, savouring the spidery entries night by night, she pieces together the extraordinary story of Nell's own life, her love for the untouchable Laurence, and the abandoned garden which becomes her solace in the face of overwhelming tragedy.
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