CHRISTINA McDONALD worked as a freelance journalist for several newspapers in Ireland and Seattle, including The Sunday Times, Dublin, The Connacht Tribune, Galway, The Galway Independent, The Seattle Post Intelligencer, and Colures Magazine. She later moved to London and started a digital copywriting company where she worked as a consultant and writer for brands such as British Telecom (BT), Travelex, Wood Mackenzie, Pearson Publishing, TUI Travel, Expedia and USAToday.com. She now lives in London with her husband, two sons and their Golden Retriever. The Night Olivia Fell is her debut novel.
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019
Copyright © Christina McDonald 2019
Christina McDonald 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.
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, downloaded, 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.
Ebook Edition © February 2019 ISBN: 9780008307677
For Richard, always and forever
Also for every single parent out there doing the most difficult jobalone; but especially for my mom, the strongest and most inspiringsingle mother I know. Thank you.
Contents
12. ABI
13. ABI
14. OLIVIA
15. ABI
16. OLIVIA
17. ABI
18. ABI
19. OLIVIA
20. ABI
21. OLIVIA
22. ABI
23. ABI
24. OLIVIA
25. OLIVIA
26. ABI
27. OLIVIA
28. ABI
29. OLIVIA
30. OLIVIA
31. ABI
32. ABI
33. OLIVIA
34. ABI
35. ABI
36. OLIVIA
37. ABI
38. OLIVIA
39. OLIVIA
40. ABI
41. OLIVIA
42. ABI
43. ABI
44. ABI
45. ABI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
READERS GROUP GUIDE
Introduction
Topics and Questions for Discussion
A Conversation with Christina McDonald
About the Publisher
‘You want the truth? I’m –’ My admission was cut off by a streak of blazing hot pain as something exploded against the side of my head. My brain barely registered the blow, my vision a dusky blur of red, pain searing into my skull and down my jaw. I felt my body spin with the force of it.
I reeled backward until my legs whacked against the low cement wall and I tumbled over, my body hurtling sideways across the ledge. A dark fog pressed against my outer vision, and before I knew it I was falling, plunging into empty space.
I hit the river on my back, my eyes fastened on the bridge’s soaring