Paullina Simons: The Tiger Catcher

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd in 2019

This edition in Great Britain 2019

Copyright © Paullina Simons

Cover design by HarperCollins Design Studio

Cover images: Couple by Mark Owen/Trevillion Images; Hollywood hills by Daniel Viñé

Garcia/Getty Images; palm trees by Cavan Images/Getty Images

Author photo by Paullina Simons

Paullina Simons asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of 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, 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.

Source ISBN: 9780007441655

Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780007441662

Version: 2019-05-02

Tully

“You’ll never look at life in the same way again. Pick up this book and prepare to have your emotions wrung so completely you’ll be sobbing your heart out one minute and laughing through your tears the next. Read it and weep—literally.”

Company

Red Leaves

“Simons handles her characters and setting with skill, slowly peeling away deceptions to reveal denial, cowardice and chilling indifference … an engrossing story.”

Publishers Weekly

Eleven Hours

“ Eleven Hours is a harrowing, hair-raising story that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.”

Janet Evanovich

The Bronze Horseman

“A love story both tender and fierce”

( Publishers Weekly )

that “recalls Dr. Zhivago. ”

( People Magazine )

The Bridge to Holy Cross

“This has everything a romance glutton could wish for: a bold, talented and dashing hero [and] a heart-stopping love affair that nourishes its two protagonists even when they are separated and lost.”

Daily Mail

The Girl in Times Square

“Part mystery, part romance, part family drama … in other words, the perfect book.”

Daily Mail

The Summer Garden

“If you’re looking for a historical epic to immerse yourself in, then this is the book for you.”

Closer

Road to Paradise

“One of our most exciting writers … Paullina Simons presents the perfect mix of page-turning plot and characters.”

Woman and Home

A Song in the Daylight

“Simons shows the frailties of families and of human nature, and demonstrates that there’s so much more to life, such as honesty and loyalty.”

Good Reading

Bellagrand

“Another epic saga from Simons, full of the emotion and heartache of the original trilogy. Summer reading at its finest.”

Canberra Times

Lone Star

“Another epic love story—perfect reading for a long, lazy day in bed.”

Better Reading

For Tania, my last child, the joy of my life

A safe fairytale is not true to either world.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright

Praise for Paullina Simons

Dedication

Epigraph

Prologue: The Transit Circle

Part One: The Ghost of God and Dreams

Chapter 1: The Invention of Love

Chapter 2: Book Soup

Chapter 3: Lonely Hearts

Chapter 4: Gift of the Magi

Chapter 5: Normandie Avenue

Chapter 6: Gwen

Chapter 7: Ashton and Riley

Chapter 8: The Red Beret, Take One

Chapter 9: Phantasmagoria in Two

Chapter 10: Griddle Cafe

Chapter 11: Duende

Chapter 12: The Four of Them

Chapter 13: Pandora’s Box

Chapter 14: Shame Toast

Chapter 15: Charlie’s Dead

Chapter 16: Fields of Asphodel

Chapter 17: A Rose by Any Other Name

Chapter 18: Lilikoi

Chapter 19: Mystique

Part Two: The Tiger Catcher

Chapter 20: Klonopin

Chapter 21: The Apothecary

Chapter 22: Waterloo

Chapter 23: White Crow

Chapter 24: The Question

Chapter 25: The Widow’s Daughter

Chapter 26: Great Eastern Road

Chapter 27: Red Beret, Take Two

Chapter 28: When We Were Kings

Chapter 29: Zero Meridian

Chapter 30: Notting Hill

Chapter 31: Time Over Matter

Chapter 32: A Boy Called Wart

Chapter 33: Dumbshow

Part Three: Medea

Chapter 34: Moongate

Chapter 35: White Lava

Chapter 36: Black River

Chapter 37: Dead Queen, Take One

Chapter 38: Chandlery

Chapter 39: Medea

Chapter 40: Lady Mary

Chapter 41: The Italian Merchant

Chapter 42: Fynnesbyrie Fields Forever

Chapter 43: The Boy and the Boatman

Chapter 44: Josephine and the Flying Machine

Chapter 45: Sebastian

Chapter 46: Consequences of Happiness

Chapter 47: The Coat

Chapter 48: Side Effects of Electrocution

Chapter 49: The Lady, or the Tiger

Keep Reading …

Author’s Note

About the Author

By the same author

About the Publisher

I SHOULD HAVE KISSED YOU. JULIAN LAY NAKED ON HIS BED, clutching the red beret, staring at the ceiling. I should have kissed you the last time I saw you.

After half a night passed like this, he gave up on sleep, jumped up and began to get ready. He had a lot to do to be in Greenwich by noon. Don’t dawdle, the cook told him. You have very little time. You have a picosecond inside of a minute. And don’t get stuck. Where you’re going, the opening is wide enough for one man, but not for all men.

And what was Julian’s wise response to this?

“How long is a picosecond?”

“One-trillionth of a second,” the exasperated cook replied.

Julian dressed in black layers. He shaved. He slicked back his unruly brown hair and tied it up so it didn’t look like what it was—a bushy mane on a man who long ago stopped giving a damn. Julian was square-faced, square-jawed, straight-browed, granite-chinned, once . His hazel eyes looked gray today, huge, sunken into his gaunt cheeks, the dark bags under his eyes like somebody clocked him, the full mouth pale. He had lost so much weight, he had to punch a new notch in his belt; his jacket could’ve fit two Julians inside.