The Borough Press
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London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
In the compilation and introductory material © Tracy Chevalier 2016
My Mother’s Wedding © Tessa Hadley 2016
Luxury Hour © Sarah Hall 2016
Grace Poole Her Testimony © Helen Dunmore 2016
Dangerous Dog © Kirsty Gunn 2016
To Hold © Joanna Briscoe 2016
It’s a Man’s Life, Ladies © Jane Gardam 2016
Since First I Saw Your Face © Emma Donoghue 2016
Reader, I Married Him © Susan Hill 2016
The Mirror © Francine Prose 2016
A Migrating Bird © Elif Șafak 2016
Behind the Mountain © Evie Wyld 2016
The China from Buenos Aires © Patricia Park 2016
Reader, She Married Me © Salley Vickers 2016
Dorset Gap © Tracy Chevalier 2016
Party Girl © Nadifa Mohamed 2016
Transference © Esther Freud 2016
The Mash-Up © Linda Grant 2016
The Self-Seeding Sycamore © Lionel Shriver 2016
The Orphan Exchange © Audrey Niffenegger 2016
Double Men © Namwali Serpell 2016
Robinson Crusoe at the Waterpark © Elizabeth McCracken 2016
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Cover design by Heike Schüssler © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017
Cover photograph © Dan Saelinger/Trunk Archive
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, while at times based on historical figures, 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: 9780008150600
Ebook Edition © November 2016 ISBN: 9780008150594
Version: 2016-12-14
For Charlotte, of course
Contents
My Mother’s Wedding – Tessa Hadley
Grace Poole Her Testimony – Helen Dunmore
It’s a Man’s Life, Ladies – Jane Gardam
Since First I Saw Your Face – Emma Donoghue
Reader, I Married Him – Susan Hill
A Migrating Bird – Elif Shafak
Behind the Mountain – Evie Wyld
The China from Buenos Aires – Patricia Park
Reader, She Married Me – Salley Vickers
The Self-Seeding Sycamore – Lionel Shriver