Cathy Glass - A Long Way from Home - Part 1 of 3

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements Anna’s Story PART I Chapter One: Lana Chapter Two: Another Chance? Chapter Three: Anxious Chapter Four: Anastasia Chapter Five: Shocked and Saddened Chapter Six: Lana’s Bear Chapter Seven: Time Apart Chapter Eight: Return Chapter Nine: Court Hearing Moving Memoirs eNewsletter About the Publisher

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperElement 2018

FIRST EDITION

© Cathy Glass 2018

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018

Cover photograph © Elly De Vries/Arcangel (posed by model)

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, 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 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.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Source ISBN: 9780008275891

Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008275921

Version: 2018-09-13

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements Anna’s Story PART I Chapter One: Lana Chapter Two: Another Chance? Chapter Three: Anxious Chapter Four: Anastasia Chapter Five: Shocked and Saddened Chapter Six: Lana’s Bear Chapter Seven: Time Apart Chapter Eight: Return Chapter Nine: Court Hearing Moving Memoirs eNewsletter About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements Anna’s Story PART I Chapter One: Lana Chapter Two: Another Chance? Chapter Three: Anxious Chapter Four: Anastasia Chapter Five: Shocked and Saddened Chapter Six: Lana’s Bear Chapter Seven: Time Apart Chapter Eight: Return Chapter Nine: Court Hearing Moving Memoirs eNewsletter About the Publisher Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy. HarperElement An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by HarperElement 2018 FIRST EDITION © Cathy Glass 2018 Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018 Cover photograph © Elly De Vries/Arcangel (posed by model) A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, 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 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. Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green Source ISBN: 9780008275891 Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008275921 Version: 2018-09-13

Acknowledgements Acknowledgements A big thank you to my family; my editors, Carolyn and Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; my UK publishers HarperCollins, and my overseas publishers who are now too numerous to list by name. Last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to my readers for your unfailing support and kind words. They are much appreciated.

Anna’s Story Anna’s Story Some stories have to wait to be told to gain the full picture and a better understanding of what happened. Anna’s story is one of them.

PART I PART I

Chapter One: Lana Chapter One

Chapter Two: Another Chance?

Chapter Three: Anxious

Chapter Four: Anastasia

Chapter Five: Shocked and Saddened

Chapter Six: Lana’s Bear

Chapter Seven: Time Apart

Chapter Eight: Return

Chapter Nine: Court Hearing

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter

About the Publisher

A big thank you to my family; my editors, Carolyn and Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; my UK publishers HarperCollins, and my overseas publishers who are now too numerous to list by name. Last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to my readers for your unfailing support and kind words. They are much appreciated.

Some stories have to wait to be told to gain the full picture and a better understanding of what happened. Anna’s story is one of them.

Chapter One

Although the children weren’t babies, they appeared as helpless as the day they were born. Dressed only in nappies and ragged T-shirts, they were sitting or lying on the hard floors, or incarcerated in their cots. Their large eyes stared out blankly from emaciated faces. Some children were obviously disabled, others not, but all were badly undernourished and clearly developmentally delayed. The four rooms in the orphanage were hot and airless in the middle of summer. Flies circled around the broken ceiling fans and buzzed against the grids covering the windows. The only toys in any of the rooms were a few balls and a handful of building bricks, but no child played with them. And the silence was deafening and unnatural. Not one of the thirty or so infants cried, let alone spoke.

‘This nice one,’ the care worker said in broken English, pausing at a cot containing a Down’s syndrome boy. ‘He no give you trouble.’

Elaine looked with renewed horror at the child rocking back and forth in the cot. A few wisps of fair hair covered his otherwise bald head, open sores bled on his lips and his face was so pale it was doubtful he had ever felt the sunlight. He stared blankly into the distance. Elaine went to speak to him but the care worker was already moving briskly to the next cot. ‘Or this one,’ she said, tapping the metal bars of the cot and ignoring the fact that the child had been sick.

Elaine fought back tears and looked to her husband to say something.

Ian cleared his throat. The care worker – a large, brusque woman – seemed to be in charge. He didn’t know what role she played and didn’t want to upset her and risk their chance of a child. ‘I’m sorry, we don’t understand,’ he said, almost apologetically. ‘We were supposed to adopt a particular child. She’s called Lana. We have a photograph of her here in our paperwork.’ He went to unclip his briefcase.