The Uninvited

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‘How’s Sweden?’ Ashok wants toknow. My screen tells me it’s 9.12 localtime. It’s Thursday 20th September. Thiswas my mother’s birthday. Had she livedshe would now be seventy-one.‘See for yourself.’ I angle my laptop toshow him the view of the waterfront frommy window, where ships, ferries andboats gleam dully under a low sun. ‘<strong>The</strong>forecast says it’ll be cloudy with light rainshowers and a high of twelve.’‘Neat,’ he says. ‘Must go theresometime. What are you up to then,Maestro?’‘I had sex with a demographer.’ Thatwakes him up.‘Well they don’t call you the PussyMagnet for nothing. She Swedish? I hearthey’re hot.’
‘Swiss–German. Attending a UNconference on the population crisis. Whatare you supposed to do when someonecries?’‘You made her cry? You big, crazyheartbreaker!’‘No. I’m talking about JonasSvensson’s boss. Lars Axel. He criedwhen I interviewed him.’‘What did he say?’‘Not much. He cried. So what do youdo, when it’s a man?’‘Jeez, Hesketh. Same as a woman. Youpat them on the arm or squeeze theirshoulder or their hand or you might givethem a hug. You tell them you understandthis is a difficult situation and suggest youtalk another time. Did you do any of that?’‘No. But I think his colleagues did. He
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For Clare Blatchford ReesAn inspira
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CONTENTSPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2C
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PROLOGUEMass hysterical outbreaks r
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she’d put it to her father’s fa
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pewter glint of the Atlantic. I’d
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Taiwan working flat out on the sabo
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The TV showed a semi-detached house
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existence. Ever since the High Ener
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stepson aiming his catapult at anot
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attracted you to Hesketh when you f
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the package called Hesketh Lock and
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some of the ‘normal social graces
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of the country, or even abroad, to
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evidence of dark forces: demons, sh
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selling tofu, lychees, starfruit, s
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cross-culture specialist, who has a
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aid triggered further investigation
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several hours, kept awake by coffee
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The next morning I was at the timbe
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though my Chinese was unfortunately
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computer. It all added up, and he a
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Martin Yeh sighed. ‘If I had been
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police asked me the same thing. And
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The loading of the trunks and the s
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His face mask hid his features. I
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drying up from the wood dust.‘The
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He shook his head. ‘It’s bad. L
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the concrete prairie. I like to be
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and paint-colour charts (here I use
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do what they want.’ As he spoke,
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He took a deep breath. ‘The spiri
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they are all dead. But they are ali
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Chen seemed absorbed in his ownthou
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the city. Up here, we were right on
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shaking the black-stemmed bamboos a
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with gold. Hell notes. Each leaf of
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leg. I would have bent it to form a
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The laugh came again. ‘Sure, I wi
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settled it on the marble slab betwe
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‘I made it,’ he said. ‘That
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‘Do you fear that there will be a
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sandalwood. I recognised it instant
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it from me. I need to know why.’
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should not ask.’‘Later she regr
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too.’ I meant it.‘We will say g
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As the taxi drove off, I looked bac
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oof had lost a few tiles, and a dea
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starting these miniature contained
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the surface in tiny bubbles likecha
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‘I know your mum has already talk
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to do. So I cleaned it up. A few mi
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toothpaste.Sometimes we pretended w
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Taiwan whistle-blower?’Sunny Chen
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said? Sunny Chen. Your factory-mana
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don’t feel anything.But I do feel
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feelings: they are a component of t
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‘Ashok. Just tell me.’‘Er, Je
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She is generally considered to beex
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here and there, white blobs in a mu
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publicity generated by a disgruntle
Page 123 and 124: The French term un acte manquédesc
Page 125 and 126: CHAPTER 3Sometime at the end of the
Page 127 and 128: Taiwan report. Chen’s suicide mea
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Page 131 and 132: the matter in hand, so I say, ‘I
Page 133 and 134: applied it. Last Christmas he sent
Page 135 and 136: doodling a bunch of amoeba fucking,
Page 137 and 138: over.’I was doing a tricky blintz
Page 139 and 140: stuck through their combs where the
Page 141 and 142: Station in Copenhagen, where I chan
Page 143 and 144: The morning after my arrival in Sto
Page 145 and 146: confused.’‘Is there no explanat
Page 147 and 148: not Japanese and nor is Lars Axel,
Page 149 and 150: If I am on to something, my blood f
Page 151 and 152: invent, and get messy. He is a fan
Page 153 and 154: choose it a name.’ He is very kee
Page 155 and 156: woodlouses.’ His voice has change
Page 157 and 158: field of study and secondly because
Page 159 and 160: dog. But she would like one. I ask
Page 161 and 162: established a definitive momentum m
Page 163 and 164: ‘No, but I’d like to,’ I tell
Page 165 and 166: interrupted sex with the demographe
Page 167 and 168: her smile, and led to her questioni
Page 169 and 170: applying for. She told me she wante
Page 171 and 172: By now I have studied Sverige Banke
Page 173: CHAPTER 4When Ashok skypes me in th
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Page 179 and 180: Svensson is probably in her mid-fif
Page 181 and 182: violent. Never. He’s become anoth
Page 183 and 184: happened at the bank.’‘So sit d
Page 185 and 186: ‘The fucking . . . creature. It
Page 187 and 188: doctor buzzes an alarm. ‘You fuck
Page 189 and 190: follow. Outside, others are chasing
Page 191 and 192: on his mobile phone. Within seconds
Page 193 and 194: Svensson and what followed. When I
Page 195 and 196: combination with other things, have
Page 197 and 198: get it over with.’ They look at e
Page 199 and 200: else the image freezes. So I say,
Page 201 and 202: Then I text Ashok asking for thedim
Page 203 and 204: Men attacking institutions that the
Page 205 and 206: fingers across the bicep, and a thu
Page 207 and 208: gum in his mouth. Numerous studies
Page 209 and 210: neurophysiology of self-deception.
Page 211 and 212: fears which dominated the lives of
Page 213 and 214: they had done.The Venn diagram in m
Page 215 and 216: significance, on some level. ‘Som
Page 217 and 218: would be catastrophic for farming -
Page 219 and 220: ‘Well, enjoy the rest of your lif
Page 221 and 222: ‘And what kind of fucked-up weird
Page 223 and 224: He’ll shout, ‘Jesus Christ, Hes
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she once claimed to find endearing.
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the car and we put the dead body in
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grow and then we eat the plants,’
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is Afghan, so I try out a few words
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day here, so at 8am local time I co
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only travel in one direction. But n
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shown that there are dimensions tha
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At 10.30 I am heading upwards in a
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the rest are erecting and dismantli
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ig muscled arm to show me ‘the wo
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lady, Halla. Very traditional. Can
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they feature as recent additions to
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overloaded now. I rock harder and h
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child he stops licking his arm, he
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Later, when I am being interrogated
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him. I didn’t push him.’ I say
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matter as you’ll be dead. But som
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e shouting.I don’t usually shout.
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construction elevator. Its slow sha
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against my faith. And it’s not in
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and he crumbled something into it.
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with three daughters. One said she
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de Vries then Mazoor could solve th
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it seemed. And I heard her too. She
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observes them, then looks up at me.
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To the mother-root, when they haveb
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epresentations are highly accurate.
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speculations it has led to.‘I bel
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honeybee. Serviced by a million dro
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one. Quite rare, though it’s on t
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This day has not been a good one so
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comes to escort me back to my hotel
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CHAPTER 6There is an explanation fo
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At the time though, there was nocon
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version. Lot and his wife and daugh
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many tribes of Africa. He’d have
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Is she beautiful? Most of my maleco
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‘Whatever it is, now is not the t
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speculation, I have to tell you. As
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glass as I speak.‘With Chen it’
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uprising. And there are other thing
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together?’I grab a napkin and dra
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Care Units for them. Drafted an arm
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A classic distancing technique. You
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‘A small figure,’ I say. ‘Chi
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esults I’m waiting on. It may mea
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entirely new way.’ In addition to
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Victor?’ That familiar cracked an
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Professor Whybray and Naomi Benjami
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‘Superstition was part of Hesketh
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Whybray.‘The girl,’ I say. ‘I
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goodbye and Stephanie presses End C
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their sudden, intense camaraderie a
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I’m overloaded. I stand and pick
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intense pummelling of my muscles.I
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that happen. Kaitlin’s wrong to s
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strain to hear it. ‘Don’t think
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seems slightly drunk. Did she have
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No. I am not OK.I clear my throat.
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it. The hand-print’s too small to
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hold of this and copied it?’ asks
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CHAPTER 8Kaitlin’s house, built i
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carry him through the narrow entran
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when I moved in has disappeared fro
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secretly a pirate ship, he insists.
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‘I say, ond som jooz. Ploz.’A m
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half-chewed crisps, and drops the l
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tissue, but he wriggles out of her
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‘What do you mean, Freddy?’ ask
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Three ways to die. ‘Except there
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He shrugs. ‘You saw the girl with
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Freddy K?’He wipes his nose on hi
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ago. But she is still beautiful and
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another?’‘No,’ says Kaitlin.
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Freddy and Hesketh both want to see
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ottle of Australian Shiraz from the
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huge. It’ll expand and peak. In w
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has flown up around her neck, distu
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I go to the window I see only one p
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make you spaghetti. Out in the kitc
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Stephanie says, ‘My sister says i
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him into another mood. He pulls awa
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desert. Is that what he wants? Is h
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Care Unit. In the meantime there’
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on all children under twelve in the
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At five, Stephanie calls from the h
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plasticine and cracked clay and a f
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‘Yep?’‘It was an accident. No
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Freddy is a collector, and tins are
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world? Somewhere out there, Freddy
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come in and hold the fort? Ashok’
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youngest two killed him.’So Amit
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pouring and stirring are soothing -
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air can be bad for you!’‘No. Ai
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engaged. The net connection hasdisa
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lind!’ he calls after me as I lea
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Professor Whybray - but the line’
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nuts. I don’t know where he got h
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‘Hesketh.’ That reedy, throaty
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swayed by the culture.’‘You onc
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‘Secondary hysteria?’ Is that w
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‘Well the human extinction lobby
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anomalies. ‘Any eye infections am
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living in the cottage on the island
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‘What do you mean, bones?’I rec
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options to choose from on the BBC
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anomalies, this information is unli
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calls again. She sounds exhausted,
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Freddy down,’ I say. ‘You need
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changes often occur in patients who
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information it contains.I’d antic
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of denial, anger, bargaining, depre
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did. In a manner of speaking.’ I
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crap they wanted. There’s no way
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intrigued me.If Freddy and I were g
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the vast orange ziggurat of Sainsbu
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taller, but not much older. Ten per
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signal again. The sign of the eye.
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camera angled at us from the corner
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left with a glass door, through whi
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you can join the others. OK?’‘Y
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telling if it’s peaked. And there
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where he waves at the three supervi
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‘Glossolalia?’‘Except that I
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eaching in his pocket. ‘Phone cal
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I ask, ‘Do you have children?’S
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ecame intimate, we would have to ha
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emarkable,’ says Professor Whybra
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I pull up a seat and glance through
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eyes.’I jump up. ‘That fits!’
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world with no adults, no toilets, n
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answer. ‘He’s still Freddy. His
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from life itself. If I am ‘waterp
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CHAPTER 11The practical side of loo
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on his head. ‘Freddy K. Mum’s i
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next to the basin. ‘We were talki
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eyes and it is as if the clock has
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means?’I watch him in the rear-vi
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for a place to settle. Her hair is
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Stephanie together, the images I co
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Stephanie. ‘Thank you, Hesketh.
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she calls after me: ‘I heard toda
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CHAPTER 12‘It was a disgrace,’
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‘believed to be the work of anarc
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a distaste for it. Contempt, even.
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call it the White Death.’ The pro
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e born and then you made us live li
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hand on my shoulder. ‘Good work,
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the unexpected. And then adapt. It
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few, Hesketh. Hold on to that.’We
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‘Hey!’ calls a male voice. I gl
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lessing.’As we approach, a couple
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two worlds can occupy the same spac
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Vries jumped. I say urgently, ‘Pr
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gently tries to prise her off. But
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donning face masks. I call out a br
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‘The reason for that is that supe
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I slide some origami paper from the
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global economy, bang goes capitalis
Page 543 and 544:
its knees. You heard about the arre
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heading back to the Stone Age. At l
Page 547 and 548:
Ashok waves him into a seat and ask
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what Svensson’s autopsy showed. I
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They’re children for ever, like P
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‘Hesketh,’ she says evenly, ‘
Page 555 and 556:
I give the short version.‘So I an
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out what impact this has on our oth
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‘Stop,’ I say. ‘This is now.
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and started writing very fast. So I
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Professor Whybray drops his noteboo
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CHAPTER 14Kaitlin Kalifakidis is de
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Kawasaki rose in an envelope marked
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forced into a wide detour: a burst
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since she organised this event, she
Page 573 and 574:
While the others head for the group
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Mazoor. Mrs Helena Whybray’s. She
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My belief is that when you die, tha
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Freddy starts clicking his tongue.G
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‘No,’ he whispers. Then he stan
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nodding at the door. ‘Go now.’A
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has no power in it. My groin is thu
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‘Where are you?’ I keep my voic
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wearing a necklace like the one Fre
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with no sign of human life. I can i
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shouts, violent elbowing, shoving a
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comprising ten or so kids. Then the
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Then the world shrinks to a pinpric
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which forms a little tent. I don’
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the pillows behind my head.My mouth
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unexplained anomaly of the kidneys.
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CHAPTER 15The next morning I wake i
Page 607 and 608:
pointing upward. ‘That’s lasagn
Page 609 and 610:
another soldier on guard. I show hi
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een cordoned off. Some soldiers are
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notebook and then find Naomi.‘How
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hand-prints in human blood.Freddy i
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The door has a small reinforcedwind
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‘Because there’s one in here.
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She puts a hand on my shoulder.‘Y
Page 623 and 624:
Freddy in the car again. They haves
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of human history has begun.
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after a storm. We’d walk beyond t
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Svensson. Here’s where I’ll exp
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attention - or seemed to, until I s
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pressed him further. Why I kept dig
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the island, he told me. All native
Page 637 and 638:
to me daily, sometimes hourly. And
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There is a lot more in this vein. M
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We are a species in crisis: a speci
Page 643 and 644:
the one I made for Sunny Chen. Irem
Page 645 and 646:
what happens next, Freddy?’ He do
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eality.Once upon a time the Earth w
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‘Stop. It means we want you to st
Page 651 and 652:
think. They’ve come back to stop
Page 653 and 654:
swivelling in my chair and watching
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new course is set. You know that,He
Page 657 and 658:
metaphysics of being. I am not a gr
Page 659 and 660:
you open them out, their intended s
Page 661 and 662:
encouragement.My thanks also go to
Page 663 and 664:
for the Orange Prize for Fiction an
Page 665 and 666:
Also Available by Liz JensenThe Rap
Page 667 and 668:
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My Dirty Little Book ofStolen TimeI
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War Crimes for theHomeLonglisted fo
Page 673 and 674:
Click for more information
Page 675 and 676:
a world of compulsive consumption,
Page 677 and 678:
Since the year all British women be
Page 679 and 680:
sister for backup, Hazel Sugden, fo
Page 681:
SydneyA CIP catalogue record for th
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The Uninvited

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