Integrity. Anna Borgeryd. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Anna Borgeryd
Издательство: Ingram
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Жанр произведения: Современные любовные романы
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781780262369
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      First published in English in 2016 by

      New Internationalist Publications Ltd

      The Old Music Hall

      106-108 Cowley Road

      Oxford

      OX4 1JE, UK

      © Anna Borgeryd

      The right of Anna Borgeryd to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the Publisher.

      Originally published in Sweden as Tunna Vāggar by Pärspektiv Förlag in 2013.

      Translated by Cindy Kite

      Translation editor: Jo Lateu

      Edited by Chris Brazier

      Front cover design: Andrew Smith

      Design: New Internationalist

      Lyric to ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay © Universal Music Publishing Ngb Ltd.

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

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

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.

      A catalog for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

      eISBN 978-1-78026-236-9

       To Emma, Nina and all the others who are going to grow up.

       Contents

      Mayday

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Chapter 21

      Chapter 22

      Chapter 23

      Chapter 24

      Chapter 25

      Chapter 26

      Chapter 27

      Chapter 28

      Chapter 29

      Chapter 30

      Chapter 31

      Chapter 32

      Chapter 33

      Chapter 34

      Chapter 35

      Chapter 36

      Chapter 37

      Chapter 38

      Chapter 39

      Chapter 40

      Chapter 41

      Chapter 42

      Chapter 43

      Chapter 44

      Chapter 45

      Chapter 46

      Chapter 47

      Chapter 48

      Chapter 49

      Chapter 50

      Chapter 51

      Chapter 52

      Acknowledgements

       Mayday

      ‘Confianza.’ That’s what he had said. He who wanted to be called Juan.

      She lay awake in the darkness and felt the breeze from the northern Colombian rainforest blowing through the mosquito net. The scent of vegetation and life blended with more pungent fumes reminiscent of death. The singing of the cicadas didn’t disturb the calm breathing of her colleagues. They usually fell into bed and slept deeply, exhausted from their long workdays. But tonight she lay fully awake. Memories of the last 33 hours played like a film in her head.

      The blindfold had prevented her from seeing where he was taking her. First towards the northeast, she guessed, down into the lush ravine where the leaves steamed and the birdsong was most intense, but then south again along meandering paths, upwards. She had understood that they were in a real hurry. But when he had removed the blindfold from her eyes, he had nonetheless taken the time to look at her with respect: ‘Your trust is good.’

      Yes, that’s probably true. She had been rewarded with hours during which she had felt extraordinarily alive. That passion for life and the adrenaline kick that comes just when you need to fight for it. Anxiety that her efforts wouldn’t be enough. Would she be able to stop it – would Juan’s trust in her prove to be well founded? Or would the newborn baby boy’s mother die from blood loss despite her efforts? What had he really meant, the new grandfather who anxiously gesticulated towards the fantastic view? And who were these people – the white-clad indigenous group who had built tidy stone roads and steps that crisscrossed the steep mountainsides in the jungle?

      Their huts and gardens; their respectfully offered, peculiar food and unfamiliar language; last night in a surprisingly comfortable hammock – everything spun around in her head until her thoughts returned to the most important question: would the patient survive the difficult birth? She thought so. She had had the presence of mind to take the station’s best flashlight and a broad-spectrum penicillin in addition to the standard equipment. She had needed to use 27 stitches. They were not as perfect as if Adam had done them, but they were properly placed and, judging from the flow of blood, she had done them in the right order.

      Now she was back in her bed in the greying wooden building that housed the aid organization’s maternity clinic. She ought to be dead tired, but the life-affirming experience of having felt so fully giving and receiving pulsated through her body. Such a beautiful world, and, strangely enough, she had fitted in, had been filled with purpose.

      Unforgettable, she thought, smiling, yet at the same time irritated because she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t get the rest she so desperately needed. Because who knows what I might be needed for tomorrow?

      Suddenly, threatening male voices broke through the chorus of insects outside. They weren’t speaking loudly, so they must be close! She sat up in an instant, filled with a chilling feeling of danger. She had just put her feet down on the old missionary