Meadowland

Meadowland
Alison Giles

A compelling first novel which centres on a young woman and the emotional legacy left by her father’s death; two widows, his mistress and his wife. Charissa finds herself torn between the two.At 25 yrs, Charissa has her life under control – until her father dies and in his dying hour extracts a promise from her to visit his weekend mistress. Since her early teenage years Charissa has been helplessly caught up in the conspiracy of silence verging on denial surrounding her father’s mistress. Far from the seductress Charissa had imagined, Flora turns out to be a self-contained , down-to-earth country woman in her fifties to whom she finds herself unexpectedly drawn. Like her father, she too begins to deceive her repressed, conventional mother by paying increasingly frequent visits to Flora ‘s West Country home. As the relationship between herself and Flora blossoms, Charissa starts to unravel her emotional past and, with the help of Flora’s attractive neighbour Andrew, to overcome her wariness of commitment nurtured by her parent’s complex relationship.

MEADOWLAND

Alison Giles

Copyright (#ulink_91dc0ed2-9afd-51b7-b69d-777517241da4)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

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

First published in Great Britain in 1998 by Fourth Estate

Copyright © 1998 by Alison Giles

The right of Alison Giles to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Source ISBN: 9781857026092

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007468898

Version: 2016-02-29

Contents

Cover (#ua105c7c6-7e4b-55bb-b3bc-90b6d27be1dc)

Title Page (#u3891dc30-f3ae-51c0-9f89-cfd889607c5c)

Copyright (#u0e060d16-a11e-55fe-b86a-24e1458ed0aa)

Chapter 1 (#u0a869c50-df82-5c70-b99b-804d82dd48a0)

Chapter 2 (#u26bd53f6-d843-53a3-9bfa-6086a4982fc5)

Chapter 3 (#u1ebf9af9-4d18-564c-aa95-90bbdafff797)

Chapter 4 (#u316268ea-63a1-527f-b476-8d321c6c359c)

Chapter 5 (#u67a68fa4-02ff-574c-952f-240d3c3dde75)

Chapter 6 (#u36a5f104-1af5-5649-96b7-a4eb57168cf3)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 1 (#ulink_0df60a43-dbc0-5b7d-a3d6-c73988b1dfbc)

I knew it was a mistake to go and see Flora; but nonetheless I went. Although it was the weekend, I dressed for the occasion in the tailored red suit with its fashionably short skirt which I normally reserved for the office. As a concession to my destination I settled on lowish heels.