Kathleen McGurl - The Drowned Village

KATHLEEN McGURLlives near the sea in Bournemouth, UK, with her husband and elderly tabby cat. She has two sons who are now grown up and have left home. She began her writing career creating short stories, and sold dozens to women’s magazines in the UK and Australia. Then she got side-tracked onto family history research – which led eventually to writing novels with genealogy themes. She has always been fascinated by the past, and the ways in which it can influence the present, and enjoys exploring these links in her novels.

When not writing or working at her full-time job in IT, she likes to go out running. She also adores mountains and is never happier than when striding across the Lake District fells, following a route from a Wainwright guidebook.

You can find out more at her website: http://kathleenmcgurl.com/, or follow her on Twitter: @KathMcGurl.

Also by Kathleen McGurl

The Emerald Comb

The Pearl Locket

The Daughters of Red Hill Hall

The Girl from Ballymor

Copyright Copyright Dedication Prologue Chapter 1: LAURA, PRESENT DAY Chapter 2: JED, APRIL 1935 Chapter 3: LAURA Chapter 4: JED Chapter 5: LAURA Chapter 6: JED Chapter 7: LAURA Chapter 8: JED Chapter 9: LAURA Chapter 10: JED Chapter 11: LAURA Chapter 12: JED Chapter 13: LAURA Chapter 14: STELLA, JULY 1935 Chapter 15: LAURA Chapter 16: STELLA Chapter 17: LAURA Chapter 18: STELLA Chapter 19: LAURA Chapter 20: STELLA Chapter 21: LAURA Chapter 22: STELLA Chapter 23: LAURA Chapter 24: JED, JULY 1935 Chapter 25: LAURA Chapter 26: STELLA, JANUARY 1936 Chapter 27: LAURA Chapter 28: STELLA, 1956 Chapter 29: LAURA Author’s Note Acknowledgements About the Publisher

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

Copyright © Kathleen McGurl 2018

Kathleen McGurl asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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 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, downloaded, 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.

Ebook Edition © September 2018 ISBN: 9780008236984

For my husband Ignatius.

May there be many more Lake District

walking holidays ahead of us.

Contents

Cover

About the Author KATHLEEN McGURL lives near the sea in Bournemouth, UK, with her husband and elderly tabby cat. She has two sons who are now grown up and have left home. She began her writing career creating short stories, and sold dozens to women’s magazines in the UK and Australia. Then she got side-tracked onto family history research – which led eventually to writing novels with genealogy themes. She has always been fascinated by the past, and the ways in which it can influence the present, and enjoys exploring these links in her novels. When not writing or working at her full-time job in IT, she likes to go out running. She also adores mountains and is never happier than when striding across the Lake District fells, following a route from a Wainwright guidebook. You can find out more at her website: http://kathleenmcgurl.com/ , or follow her on Twitter: @KathMcGurl .

Also by Kathleen McGurl Also by Kathleen McGurl The Emerald Comb The Pearl Locket The Daughters of Red Hill Hall The Girl from Ballymor

Title Page

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Prologue Chapter 1: LAURA, PRESENT DAY Chapter 2: JED, APRIL 1935 Chapter 3: LAURA Chapter 4: JED Chapter 5: LAURA Chapter 6: JED Chapter 7: LAURA Chapter 8: JED Chapter 9: LAURA Chapter 10: JED Chapter 11: LAURA Chapter 12: JED Chapter 13: LAURA Chapter 14: STELLA, JULY 1935 Chapter 15: LAURA Chapter 16: STELLA Chapter 17: LAURA Chapter 18: STELLA Chapter 19: LAURA Chapter 20: STELLA Chapter 21: LAURA Chapter 22: STELLA Chapter 23: LAURA Chapter 24: JED, JULY 1935 Chapter 25: LAURA Chapter 26: STELLA, JANUARY 1936 Chapter 27: LAURA Chapter 28: STELLA, 1956 Chapter 29: LAURA Author’s Note Acknowledgements About the Publisher An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018 Copyright © Kathleen McGurl 2018 Kathleen McGurl asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. 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 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, downloaded, 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. Ebook Edition © September 2018 ISBN: 9780008236984

Dedication For my husband Ignatius. May there be many more Lake District walking holidays ahead of us.

Prologue Prologue It was the same dream. All these years, always the same dream. It was cold, snowing, and she was wearing only a thin cardigan over a cotton frock. On her feet were flimsy plimsolls. The sky was white, all colour had been sucked out of the countryside, everything was monochrome. There was mud underfoot, squelching, pulling at her shoes, threatening to claim them and never give them back. On either side of her were the walls of the houses – only half height now, reaching to her waist or shoulder at most. All the roofs were gone, doors and window shutters hung off their hinges, everywhere was rubble, the sad remains of a once happy life. And then came the water. Icy cold, nibbling first at her toes, then sloshing around her ankles, and up to her knees. She was wading through it, struggling onwards, reaching out in front of her with both hands, stretching, leaning, grasping – but always it was just out of reach. No matter how hard she tried, she could not quite touch it, and always the water was rising higher and higher, the cold of it turning her feet and hands to stone. Ahead, in the distance, was her father’s face. Torn with anguish, saying – no, shouting – something at her. She couldn’t hear his words; they were drowned by the sounds of rushing water, rising tides, a burst dam, a wall of water engulfing everything around her. She knew she had to reach it – that was what he wanted. If only she could get hold of it; but still, it was tantalisingly beyond her reach. Now the water was up to her chest, her neck, and she was trying to swim but something was pulling her under, into the icy depths, and still she couldn’t reach the thing she had come here for. Her chest was tight, burning with the effort to breathe as the cold engulfed her and panic rose within her. As always, just as the water washed over her head, filling her lungs and blurring her vision, she awoke, sweating, her heart racing, and her fingers – old and gnarled now, not the smooth youthful hands of her dream – still stretching out to try to touch the battered old tea caddy . . .