Unravelling Oliver(60)
I told Annalise about how my mother left us some years later, and how my father remarried a woman who did not want to raise me. I feigned upset. I said I didn’t like to talk about it. Annalise was sympathetic and did not press for details. I explained about how I was raised in a boarding school.
‘I’m afraid there is no mystery, and that you have had a wasted journey.’
I wished her luck with her continued search.
She seemed relieved, I think. Happy to know that, after all, her father was not the monster who sat before her. We shook hands. Her hand was warm in mine.
I have destroyed enough lives. She is better off not knowing. This, finally, is a secret I am proud of keeping. Protecting her is an act of unselfish generosity. I try to be good.
Acknowledgements
Heartfelt thanks to:
Marianne Gunn O’Connor, my agent, who deserves her excellent reputation for incredible support, and Vicky Satlow, for her determination on my behalf. Patricia Deevy, my editor, for gently helping me to shape my story as you now see it. Also, Michael McLoughlin, Cliona Lewis, Patricia McVeigh, Brian Walker and all of the team at Penguin Ireland. Keith Taylor, Lisa Simmonds and Holly Kate Donmall at Penguin UK, and copy-editor Caroline Pretty, for painstaking editing, proofing and production work. Alison Groom and Lesley Hodgson, for suitably sinister jacket design.
Sincere gratitude for expert research advice from: Mark Shriver Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and Genetics at Pennsylvania State University; David MacHugh Ph.D., Associate Professor of Genomics at University College Dublin; and Kieran Gaffney, Charge Care Officer (retired) at the Central Mental Hospital.
Personal thanks to:
Alison Walsh and Clodagh Lynam, for excellent advice, and Kevin Reynolds, Clíodhna Ní Anlúain, Lorelei Harris, Jesper Bergmann and Cathryn Brennan, for broadcasting my early scribblings.
All of my beloved friends and family members, including in-laws, who were forced to read this multiple times. And especially to my dad, who passed on to me his love of literature.
My husband, Richard, for everything. I adore you. x