The Uninvited

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‘Yes. It falls on the fifteenth day of theseventh moon of the lunar calendar.’ Hiseyes narrowed. I’d aroused curiosity. ‘Ihave a good memory for anything I’veseen written down,’ I explained.‘Especially facts involving numbers.’I hadn’t mentioned my PhD in theanthropology of belief systems: as far asSunny Chen was concerned, I was just acorporate troubleshooter.‘Well you know then, that’s the day wehonour the hungry ghosts, in the monthwhen the gates of Hell are opened.’ Inodded. The term Hungry Ghosts was alsoused to describe the starving victims ofthe famine caused by Mao’s Great LeapForward. ‘The spirits wander the earth.They are restless. They need help. Theyexpect us to give it. They scare us. So we
do what they want.’ As he spoke, herefilled his soy bowl with sauce, theliquid shooting from the bottle in tiny darkspurts. Like the gyrating lanterns above us,the movement was mesmerising. At onepoint he picked the little bowl up andtipped its contents directly on to his rice.This seemed to me very un-Chinese: moresomething a Westerner might do. Soy isvery salty, so I wondered about his bloodpressure. ‘They can be family members.But they don’t have to be. They need tosay something, or they need you to dosomething for them. Then they appear inyour sleep. That’s called tong-mong. Youknow this?’I nodded. ‘Through dreams.’There is no Heaven in Chinesetradition. Just different levels of Hell. The
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For Clare Blatchford ReesAn inspira
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CONTENTSPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2C
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PROLOGUEMass hysterical outbreaks r
Page 9 and 10: she’d put it to her father’s fa
Page 11 and 12: pewter glint of the Atlantic. I’d
Page 13 and 14: Taiwan working flat out on the sabo
Page 15 and 16: The TV showed a semi-detached house
Page 17 and 18: existence. Ever since the High Ener
Page 19 and 20: stepson aiming his catapult at anot
Page 21 and 22: attracted you to Hesketh when you f
Page 23 and 24: the package called Hesketh Lock and
Page 25 and 26: some of the ‘normal social graces
Page 27 and 28: of the country, or even abroad, to
Page 29 and 30: evidence of dark forces: demons, sh
Page 31 and 32: selling tofu, lychees, starfruit, s
Page 33 and 34: cross-culture specialist, who has a
Page 35 and 36: aid triggered further investigation
Page 37 and 38: several hours, kept awake by coffee
Page 39 and 40: The next morning I was at the timbe
Page 41 and 42: though my Chinese was unfortunately
Page 43 and 44: computer. It all added up, and he a
Page 45 and 46: Martin Yeh sighed. ‘If I had been
Page 47 and 48: police asked me the same thing. And
Page 49 and 50: The loading of the trunks and the s
Page 51 and 52: His face mask hid his features. I
Page 53 and 54: drying up from the wood dust.‘The
Page 55 and 56: He shook his head. ‘It’s bad. L
Page 57 and 58: the concrete prairie. I like to be
Page 59: and paint-colour charts (here I use
Page 63 and 64: He took a deep breath. ‘The spiri
Page 65 and 66: they are all dead. But they are ali
Page 67 and 68: Chen seemed absorbed in his ownthou
Page 69 and 70: the city. Up here, we were right on
Page 71 and 72: shaking the black-stemmed bamboos a
Page 73 and 74: with gold. Hell notes. Each leaf of
Page 75 and 76: leg. I would have bent it to form a
Page 77 and 78: The laugh came again. ‘Sure, I wi
Page 79 and 80: settled it on the marble slab betwe
Page 81 and 82: ‘I made it,’ he said. ‘That
Page 83 and 84: ‘Do you fear that there will be a
Page 85 and 86: sandalwood. I recognised it instant
Page 87 and 88: it from me. I need to know why.’
Page 89 and 90: should not ask.’‘Later she regr
Page 91 and 92: too.’ I meant it.‘We will say g
Page 93 and 94: As the taxi drove off, I looked bac
Page 95 and 96: oof had lost a few tiles, and a dea
Page 97 and 98: starting these miniature contained
Page 99 and 100: the surface in tiny bubbles likecha
Page 101 and 102: ‘I know your mum has already talk
Page 103 and 104: to do. So I cleaned it up. A few mi
Page 105 and 106: toothpaste.Sometimes we pretended w
Page 107 and 108: Taiwan whistle-blower?’Sunny Chen
Page 109 and 110: 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
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The French term un acte manquédesc
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CHAPTER 3Sometime at the end of the
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Taiwan report. Chen’s suicide mea
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visible behind his left ear. I don
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the matter in hand, so I say, ‘I
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applied it. Last Christmas he sent
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doodling a bunch of amoeba fucking,
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over.’I was doing a tricky blintz
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stuck through their combs where the
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Station in Copenhagen, where I chan
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The morning after my arrival in Sto
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confused.’‘Is there no explanat
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not Japanese and nor is Lars Axel,
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If I am on to something, my blood f
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invent, and get messy. He is a fan
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choose it a name.’ He is very kee
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woodlouses.’ His voice has change
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field of study and secondly because
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dog. But she would like one. I ask
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established a definitive momentum m
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‘No, but I’d like to,’ I tell
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interrupted sex with the demographe
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her smile, and led to her questioni
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applying for. She told me she wante
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By now I have studied Sverige Banke
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CHAPTER 4When Ashok skypes me in th
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‘Swiss-German. Attending a UNconf
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a state of enlightenment. Was thiss
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Svensson is probably in her mid-fif
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violent. Never. He’s become anoth
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happened at the bank.’‘So sit d
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‘The fucking . . . creature. It
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doctor buzzes an alarm. ‘You fuck
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follow. Outside, others are chasing
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on his mobile phone. Within seconds
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Svensson and what followed. When I
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combination with other things, have
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get it over with.’ They look at e
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else the image freezes. So I say,
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Then I text Ashok asking for thedim
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Men attacking institutions that the
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fingers across the bicep, and a thu
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gum in his mouth. Numerous studies
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neurophysiology of self-deception.
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fears which dominated the lives of
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they had done.The Venn diagram in m
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significance, on some level. ‘Som
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would be catastrophic for farming -
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‘Well, enjoy the rest of your lif
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‘And what kind of fucked-up weird
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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
Page 303 and 304:
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
Page 339 and 340:
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
Page 359 and 360:
tissue, but he wriggles out of her
Page 361 and 362:
‘What do you mean, Freddy?’ ask
Page 363 and 364:
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
Page 369 and 370:
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
Page 375 and 376:
ottle of Australian Shiraz from the
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huge. It’ll expand and peak. In w
Page 379 and 380:
has flown up around her neck, distu
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I go to the window I see only one p
Page 383 and 384:
make you spaghetti. Out in the kitc
Page 385 and 386:
Stephanie says, ‘My sister says i
Page 387 and 388:
him into another mood. He pulls awa
Page 389 and 390:
desert. Is that what he wants? Is h
Page 391 and 392:
Care Unit. In the meantime there’
Page 393 and 394:
on all children under twelve in the
Page 395 and 396:
At five, Stephanie calls from the h
Page 397 and 398:
plasticine and cracked clay and a f
Page 399 and 400:
‘Yep?’‘It was an accident. No
Page 401 and 402:
Freddy is a collector, and tins are
Page 403 and 404:
world? Somewhere out there, Freddy
Page 405 and 406:
come in and hold the fort? Ashok’
Page 407 and 408:
youngest two killed him.’So Amit
Page 409 and 410:
pouring and stirring are soothing -
Page 411 and 412:
air can be bad for you!’‘No. Ai
Page 413 and 414:
engaged. The net connection hasdisa
Page 415 and 416:
lind!’ he calls after me as I lea
Page 417 and 418:
Professor Whybray - but the line’
Page 419 and 420:
nuts. I don’t know where he got h
Page 421 and 422:
‘Hesketh.’ That reedy, throaty
Page 423 and 424:
swayed by the culture.’‘You onc
Page 425 and 426:
‘Secondary hysteria?’ Is that w
Page 427 and 428:
‘Well the human extinction lobby
Page 429 and 430:
anomalies. ‘Any eye infections am
Page 431 and 432:
living in the cottage on the island
Page 433 and 434:
‘What do you mean, bones?’I rec
Page 435 and 436:
options to choose from on the BBC
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anomalies, this information is unli
Page 439 and 440:
calls again. She sounds exhausted,
Page 441 and 442:
Freddy down,’ I say. ‘You need
Page 443 and 444:
changes often occur in patients who
Page 445 and 446:
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
Page 455 and 456:
the vast orange ziggurat of Sainsbu
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taller, but not much older. Ten per
Page 459 and 460:
signal again. The sign of the eye.
Page 461 and 462:
camera angled at us from the corner
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left with a glass door, through whi
Page 465 and 466:
you can join the others. OK?’‘Y
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telling if it’s peaked. And there
Page 469 and 470:
where he waves at the three supervi
Page 471 and 472:
‘Glossolalia?’‘Except that I
Page 473 and 474:
eaching in his pocket. ‘Phone cal
Page 475 and 476:
I ask, ‘Do you have children?’S
Page 477 and 478:
ecame intimate, we would have to ha
Page 479 and 480:
emarkable,’ says Professor Whybra
Page 481 and 482:
I pull up a seat and glance through
Page 483 and 484:
eyes.’I jump up. ‘That fits!’
Page 485 and 486:
world with no adults, no toilets, n
Page 487 and 488:
answer. ‘He’s still Freddy. His
Page 489 and 490:
from life itself. If I am ‘waterp
Page 491 and 492:
CHAPTER 11The practical side of loo
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on his head. ‘Freddy K. Mum’s i
Page 495 and 496:
next to the basin. ‘We were talki
Page 497 and 498:
eyes and it is as if the clock has
Page 499 and 500:
means?’I watch him in the rear-vi
Page 501 and 502:
for a place to settle. Her hair is
Page 503 and 504:
Stephanie together, the images I co
Page 505 and 506:
Stephanie. ‘Thank you, Hesketh.
Page 507 and 508:
she calls after me: ‘I heard toda
Page 509 and 510:
CHAPTER 12‘It was a disgrace,’
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‘believed to be the work of anarc
Page 513 and 514:
a distaste for it. Contempt, even.
Page 515 and 516:
call it the White Death.’ The pro
Page 517 and 518:
e born and then you made us live li
Page 519 and 520:
hand on my shoulder. ‘Good work,
Page 521 and 522:
the unexpected. And then adapt. It
Page 523 and 524:
few, Hesketh. Hold on to that.’We
Page 525 and 526:
‘Hey!’ calls a male voice. I gl
Page 527 and 528:
lessing.’As we approach, a couple
Page 529 and 530:
two worlds can occupy the same spac
Page 531 and 532:
Vries jumped. I say urgently, ‘Pr
Page 533 and 534:
gently tries to prise her off. But
Page 535 and 536:
donning face masks. I call out a br
Page 537 and 538:
‘The reason for that is that supe
Page 539 and 540:
I slide some origami paper from the
Page 541 and 542:
global economy, bang goes capitalis
Page 543 and 544:
its knees. You heard about the arre
Page 545 and 546:
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
Page 553 and 554:
‘Hesketh,’ she says evenly, ‘
Page 555 and 556:
I give the short version.‘So I an
Page 557 and 558:
out what impact this has on our oth
Page 559 and 560:
‘Stop,’ I say. ‘This is now.
Page 561 and 562:
and started writing very fast. So I
Page 563 and 564:
Professor Whybray drops his noteboo
Page 565 and 566:
CHAPTER 14Kaitlin Kalifakidis is de
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Kawasaki rose in an envelope marked
Page 569 and 570:
forced into a wide detour: a burst
Page 571 and 572:
since she organised this event, she
Page 573 and 574:
While the others head for the group
Page 575 and 576:
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
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pointing upward. ‘That’s lasagn
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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
Page 619 and 620:
‘Because there’s one in here.
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She puts a hand on my shoulder.‘Y
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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
Page 631 and 632:
attention - or seemed to, until I s
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pressed him further. Why I kept dig
Page 635 and 636:
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
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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
Page 655 and 656:
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
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The Ninth Life of LouisDraxNine-yea
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My Dirty Little Book ofStolen TimeI
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War Crimes for theHomeLonglisted fo
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Click for more information
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a world of compulsive consumption,
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Since the year all British women be
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sister for backup, Hazel Sugden, fo
Page 681:
SydneyA CIP catalogue record for th
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The Uninvited

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