The Burden

The Burden
Agatha Christie

A superb novel of possessive love.Laura Franklin bitterly resented the arrival of her younger sister Shirley, an enchanting baby loved by all the family. But Laura's emotions towards her sister changed dramatically one night, when she vowed to protect her with all her strength and love. While Shirley longs for freedom and romance, Laura has to learn that loving can never be a one-sided affair, and the burden of her love for her sister has a dramatic effect on both their lives. A story of consequences when love turns to obsession…Famous for her ingenious crime books and plays, Agatha Christie also wrote about crimes of the heart, six bittersweet and very personal novels, as compelling and memorable as the best of her work.

Copyright (#ulink_b8efccc3-f250-5a5d-9c39-69738d6cfe8b)

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Heinemann 1956

Copyright © 1956 Rosalind Hicks Charitable Trust. All rights reserved.

www.agathachristie.com (http://www.agathachristie.com)

Cover by ninataradesign.com (http://www.ninataradesign.com) © HarperCollins 2017

Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008131456

Ebook Edition © June 2017 ISBN: 9780007534999

Version: 2018-04-11

Epigraph (#ulink_b90bc2fe-8536-5a72-8a66-6c4740758638)

‘For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light’

ST MATTHEW, Ch. 11, v.30

‘Lord, Thy most pointed pleasure take

And stab my spirit broad awake;

Or, Lord, if too obdurate I,

Choose Thou, before that spirit die,

A piercing pain, a killing sin,

And to my dead heart run them in!’

R. L. STEVENSON

Contents

Cover (#u2f2f4235-d2dc-5370-99fa-9def293e288b)

Title Page (#u267709fa-5797-5cb8-a4eb-07eff18fcb1d)

Copyright (#u45fbedf6-6569-5d3f-9743-5cd5d2c97fc0)

Epigraph (#ue607bedc-6e44-5c97-9c41-e41d6703b76c)

Prologue (#u3ea017cd-547d-585a-82af-086820e6bf15)

PART I. Laura—1929 (#u8f066657-5f6e-56ea-b148-3e67d388da59)

Chapter 1 (#u25a6f470-6b10-5a1d-bd26-ef4837f090b8)

Chapter 2 (#uc80de71d-62c0-57d6-a92f-6d5947395529)

Chapter 3 (#uc80d5f37-4594-5648-8c8d-856af7a40c67)

Chapter 4 (#u1265e46f-d9cb-5b9e-a2b8-2557a0192f82)

Chapter 5 (#u29de1ba1-6dc6-557c-90a4-4d5d50b30de8)

PART II. Shirley—1946 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 2 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 3 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

PART III. Llewellyn—1956 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#litres_trial_promo)