Mislaid & The Wallcreeper: The Nell Zink Collection

Mislaid & The Wallcreeper: The Nell Zink Collection
Nell Zink

‘Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.’ Jonathan FranzenStartlingly radical, dazzlingly witty, unlike anything that has come before – these are the two most exciting novels published this year.MISLAIDVirginia, 1966. The motionless deeps of the lake outside Stillwater College are being ruffled. Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, is determinedly fondling Peggy, an ingénue freshman with literary pretensions, in his canoe. So begins a long affair but the two are mismatched from the start.The story that follows rocks the boat in every sense. Nell Zink’s hugely entertaining, totally unique Mislaid explodes the nuclear family and topples every foundation of identity – black and white, gay and straight, “normal” and very very strange…THE WALLCREEPERInterlaken, Berne, 21st century. Several things happen after the car hits the rock. Tiff ceases to be pregnant. Stephen captures, like, the most wonderful bird – fleet, stealthy, and beautiful – a real “lifer”. And the wallcreeper, the wallcreeper says “twee”.The Wallcreeper is nothing more than a portrait of marriage, complete with all its requisite highs and lows: drugs, dubstep, small chores, anal sex, eco-terrorism, birding, breeding and feeding.

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Copyright (#u1e90525c-147f-5f77-878c-3da4a509e7ba)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thestate.co.uk (http://www.4thestate.co.uk)

MISLAID

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2015

First published in the United States by Ecco in 2015

Copyright © Nell Zink 2015

THE WALLCREEPER

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2015

First published in the United States by Dorothy, a Publishing Project in 2014

Copyright © Nell Zink 2014

Nell Zink asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

Jacket images © Norman Arlott

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

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.

These novels are works of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Source ISBNs: 9780008139605 and 9780008130862

Ebook Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9780008139933

Version: 2015-05-22

Contents

Cover (#u3ac17bb2-a21f-5094-a60a-8b13ae695f17)

Title Page (#u81d7bd1c-ffcb-5380-977d-039e4592343b)

Copyright (#ub092ffd0-8427-5a12-a430-23a526029855)

Mislaid (#udd008c8b-2113-56b7-8c81-8ed744def19b)

The Wallcreeper (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

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Contents

Title Page (#u80efda66-93b1-5caf-b4b2-2d2a24988146)

Dedication (#ua1e88a33-29c9-5823-b520-245f73911d25)

Epigraph (#uc5b271eb-cad6-531c-b7b7-06a95a88cfd1)

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Three (#ub12fe2ba-5120-5480-907f-5de897e0acb8)

Four (#u65b2965e-b1b5-5f55-bd99-fdc8c15ba03a)

Five (#u7b47766c-2280-5f02-acaa-ea3bd1ed5580)

Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

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Nine (#litres_trial_promo)