Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2014
First published in the United States by Simon & Schuster, Inc. in 2014
Copyright © 2014 by Matthew Thomas
Matthew Thomas asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of 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.
The Author and Publishers are committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others and have made all reasonable efforts to trace the copyright owners of the images reproduced, and to provide appropriate acknowledgement, within this book. In the event that any untraceable copyright owners come forward after the publication of this book, the Author and Publishers will use all reasonable endeavours to rectify the position accordingly.
“Touch me.” Copyright © 1995 by Stanley Kunitz, from Passing Through: The Later Poems New and Selected by Stanley Kunitz. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Cover photographs © Kim Sohee/Getty Images (houses); Mark Owen/Arcangel Images (sky).
Cover design by Christopher Lin
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Source ISBN: 9780007548217
Ebook Edition © August 2014 ISBN: 9780007548224
Version: 2015-02-20
To Joy
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.
—Stanley Kunitz
We are not ourselves
When nature, being oppressed, commands the mind
To suffer with the body.
—King Lear
Table of Contents
Part I: Days under Sun and Rain 1951–1982
Part II: The Salad Days Thursday, October 23, 1986