The Borough Press
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Katy Mahood asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Excerpt from ‘Love After Love’ by Derek Walcott reprinted from Collected Poems, 1948-1984 (1986) by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd and Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Excerpts from ‘Sea Fever’ by John Masefield reprinted by permission of The Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of John Masefield
Excerpt from ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ by William Wordsworth
Copyright © Katy Mahood 2018
Cover design by Ellie Game © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Cover photograph © ITAR-TASS/TopFoto
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 e-books
Source ISBN: 9780008245658
Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008245672
Version: 2018-09-25
‘Dexterously structured . . . [a] wise debut’
Observer
‘A beautifully deceptive novel that gently entraps the reader with the lightest-touch characters and a slowly gripping story, studded with glittering moments. It is about how we arrive at who we are now, thinking we were heading along one route and only finding our true paths in retrospect. A hugely impressive debut’
STELLA DUFFY
‘Beautifully written and sensitively observed’
HANNAH BECKERMAN
‘A really accomplished debut novel about how life is a series of connections, coincidences and chance’
Red Magazine
For my parents, Tess and Jim
When two systems enter into temporary physical interaction due to known forces between them, and when after a time of mutual influence the systems separate again, then they can no longer be described in the same way as before … I would call that the characteristic trait of quantum mechanics, the one that enforces its entire departure from classical lines of thought. Because of their interaction these two quantum states have become entangled.
‘The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics’ by Erwin Schrödinger, 1935
Contents
Copyright
Praise
Dedication
Epigraph
Prelude
1. Collision
Chapter 1.1
Chapter 1.2
Chapter 1.3
Chapter 1.4
Chapter 1.5
2. Duality
Chapter 2.1
Chapter 2.2
Chapter 2.3
3. Superposition
Chapter 3.1
Chapter 3.2
Chapter 3.3
Chapter 3.4
Chapter 3.5
Chapter 3.6
Chapter 3.7
4. Non-Locality
Chapter 4.1
Chapter 4.2
Chapter 4.3
Chapter 4.4
Chapter 4.5
Chapter 4.6
Chapter 4.7
Chapter 4.8
Chapter 4.9
Chapter 4.10
Chapter 4.11
Chapter 4.12
Chapter 4.13
Interlude
5. Decoherence
Chapter 5.1
Chapter 5.2
Chapter 5.3
Chapter 5.4
Chapter 5.5
Chapter 5.6
Chapter 5.7
Chapter 5.8
Reprise
Acknowledgements