Hilary Mantel - Vacant Possession

HILARY MANTEL

Vacant Possession

Harper Perennial

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by Chatto & Windus Ltd 1986

Copyright © Hilary Mantel 1986

PS Section copyright © Louise Tucker 2006

except ‘Having a Home to Go to’ by Hilary Mantel © Hilary Mantel 2006

PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Hilary Mantel 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

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, down-loaded, 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 e-books.

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9781841153407

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 9780007354870

Version: 2019-06-07

To Gerald

‘… and that is what one does, one does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.’

GERTRUDE STEIN

EZEKIEL 37:3

‘Can these bones live?’

Cover

Title Page HILARY MANTEL Vacant Possession

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Epigraph Preface CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 Keep Reading Excerpt from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel P.S. Ideas, interviews & features … About the Author About the book Read on About the Author By the same author About the Publisher Harper Perennial An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by Chatto & Windus Ltd 1986 Copyright © Hilary Mantel 1986 PS Section copyright © Louise Tucker 2006 except ‘Having a Home to Go to’ by Hilary Mantel © Hilary Mantel 2006 PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Hilary Mantel 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 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, down-loaded, 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 e-books. HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication. Source ISBN: 9781841153407 Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 9780007354870 Version: 2019-06-07

Dedication Dedication Dedication Epigraph Preface CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 Keep Reading Excerpt from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel P.S. Ideas, interviews & features … About the Author About the book Read on About the Author By the same author About the Publisher To Gerald

Epigraph Epigraph Epigraph Preface CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 Keep Reading Excerpt from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel P.S. Ideas, interviews & features … About the Author About the book Read on About the Author By the same author About the Publisher ‘… and that is what one does, one does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.’ GERTRUDE STEIN EZEKIEL 37:3 ‘Can these bones live?’

Preface Preface It was ten o’clock in the evening; raining and very dark. A man was walking along the road whistling ‘Santa Lucia’. Muriel Axon stood alone at the window of her room; a square plain woman, forty-four years old. She was wrapped in an eiderdown, and in the palm of her hand she held the boiled egg she was eating for supper. The glow of the streetlamps showed her wet slate roofs, the long lit curve of the motorway outside the town, and a bristling cat in the shadow of a wall; beyond these, the spines of black hills. Cradling the warm egg, Muriel dug in her fingernails to crush the shell. She did not go in for table manners; they wasted time. She began to peel the skin, wincing a little as she did so. She put her tongue into the salted gelid hollow and probed gently. The room behind her was dark, and full of the minute crackling her fingers made. She sucked, thought. Most of Muriel’s thoughts were quite unlike other people’s. Down below, she heard the front door opening. A dim light shone onto the path, and a second later her landlord appeared, Mr Kowalski, shuffling the few paces to the gate. He looked up and down the road. No one. He stood for a moment, his bullet head shrinking into his shoulders; turned, grunting to himself, and slowly made his way back. She heard the front door slam. It was ten fifteen. Mr Kowalski was drawing the bolts, turning the key, putting the chain on the door.

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

Keep Reading

Excerpt from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

P.S. Ideas, interviews & features …

About the Author

About the book

Read on

About the Author

By the same author

About the Publisher

It was ten o’clock in the evening; raining and very dark. A man was walking along the road whistling ‘Santa Lucia’.

Muriel Axon stood alone at the window of her room; a square plain woman, forty-four years old. She was wrapped in an eiderdown, and in the palm of her hand she held the boiled egg she was eating for supper. The glow of the streetlamps showed her wet slate roofs, the long lit curve of the motorway outside the town, and a bristling cat in the shadow of a wall; beyond these, the spines of black hills.