The Swan Maid

The Swan Maid
Dilly Court

The brand new compelling novel from the Sunday Times bestseller, Dilly Court.Lottie Lane is all alone in the world. As a chambermaid at one of London’s busiest inns, condemned to a life of drudgery and at the mercy of a vicious landlady, Lottie is too worn out to even dream of a better life.Until one night an injured soldier is brought to The Swan. Lottie nurses him back from the dead and suddenly everything changes. She finds herself following the drum of the soldiers, all the way from the docks of Chatham to the darkness and despair of a far flung battlefield.When tragedy strikes, Lottie is alone once more and thrown back into the jaws of London’s streets. With the threat of destitution nipping at her heels, Lottie is in dire need of a miracle . . .

Copyright (#ud960f709-5c08-5551-98ef-43269ff9918b)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Copyright © Dilly Court 2016

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016

Cover photographs © Gordon Crabb (woman); Chronicle/Alamy (background scene)

Dilly Court 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: 9780008137441

Ebook Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 9780008137458

Version 2017-05-09

Dedication (#ud960f709-5c08-5551-98ef-43269ff9918b)

For Teresa Chris, my excellent agent and trusted friend.

Table of Contents

Cover (#u69cd31d9-08f8-5fba-94f4-418111d85c71)

Title Page (#u5e80ee7c-589b-59a5-8418-4210a439f2c0)

Copyright (#u4d6c3f60-0113-5ca2-b35c-dfd69a289705)

Dedication (#u8ec4c0ae-75fe-52d1-b794-6b6ca8c822bb)

Chapter One (#uf1db4d16-6908-50fc-938d-6994bcd5736b)

Chapter Two (#ufc630f75-0f4c-5cd3-afce-e31e80ab10a4)

Chapter Three (#u4b80ba62-9ff3-561d-86da-c2f75dd063cc)

Chapter Four (#ue9136658-613c-5724-85a6-169802a1652b)

Chapter Five (#u509ad2d7-39be-5a75-a8e7-0ae9ef820123)

Chapter Six (#ue0e2d946-fec5-5dd8-9c83-a79f4129f3cb)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)