Tracy Buchanan - My Sister’s Secret

TRACY BUCHANAN

Published by Avon

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2015

Copyright © Tracy Buchanan 2015

Cover Design © Lisa Horton 2015

Tracy Buchanan 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: 9780007579396

Ebook Edition © July 2015 ISBN: 9780007579402

Version: 2015-07-28

Contents

Cover

Title Page TRACY BUCHANAN

Copyright Published by Avon An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2015 Copyright © Tracy Buchanan 2015 Cover Design © Lisa Horton 2015 Tracy Buchanan 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: 9780007579396 Ebook Edition © July 2015 ISBN: 9780007579402 Version: 2015-07-28

Praise

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Acknowledgements

About the Author

How Far Would You Go for the One You Love the Most?

About the Publisher

Join the readers who love Tracy Buchanan!

Praise for THE ATLAS OF US

‘The best book I’ve readin a long time’

‘Full of secretsand surprises’

‘One of the hot summer readsof 2014’

‘Kept me hooked’

‘A captivatingstory’

‘Will keep you guessingtill the end’

‘ Beautifullywritten, excitingand unpredictable’

‘A grippingjourney packed with adventures, secrets, struggles, devastation, but also courage and love’

‘Each page brings a new revelation’

‘A fab summer readto take on holiday’

‘When it was finished, I wanted more’

‘I don’t have enough words to describe how fantasticit is’

‘I totally recommendit’

‘If you thought you knewwhat was coming nextyou were wrong’

‘A thrillingride’

‘ Wow! What a book!’

‘One of the best debutsof 2014’

‘Found myself going to bed early just so I could read more’

‘ Can’t waitfor her next one!’

‘A beautifullyatmospheric page turner’

‘I was enthralled’

‘I heartilyrecommend it’

‘Easily one of my top readsof 2014’

‘My goodness, what a spellbindingbook’

‘I found myself sneaking off just so I could readthe next chapter’

‘Extremely powerful’

‘Raw emotions that fill your heart’

‘Engaging, passionate, romanticand full of heart-warmingand heart-wrenchingmoments’

‘I am highly anticipatingher next book’

‘One of the best booksI’ve ever read’

‘I simply lovedit’

‘I highly, highly recommendthis book to anyone’

To Paul and Jessica, my brother and sister

Busby-on-Sea, UK

March 1977

Faith lay still, the rain wetting her face and bouncing off the soft skin of her outstretched palms. She heard voices, footsteps, but couldn’t move, couldn’t call out. She looked up at the soaking tree branches above. If she narrowed her eyes slightly it almost looked like she was underwater, floating under a submerged tree…

Wouldn’t that be wonderful, discovering the drowned forest she and her sisters had spent their summers searching for? She remembered the first time she showed them the map she’d made. Three years ago. She was sixteen, so naïve then, so excited too. She’d hurried down the beach, the pebbles stretching out before her, the sky bright blue above, sun hot and hazy. When she caught sight of her sisters, she slowed down. She liked watching them when they were like this, quiet and still. Her thirteen-year-old sister, Charity – the youngest of the three – lay on a towel, chin tipped up towards the sun, eyes closed, wild black hair a tangle above her head. Her sunburnt legs stretched out from faded denim shorts, her halter-neck top matching her red knees. She was at that confusing age between girlhood and womanhood that Faith remembered so well.

Sitting behind Charity on a large white rock, her pale knees tucked up to her chest, was Hope. She watched the sea pensively as it foamed against the beach, the end of her pen in her mouth, notepad open in her other hand. The swimsuit she was wearing – an old one of their mother’s, swirling colours of green, red and blue – and the turquoise swimming cap that hid her long red hair made her look more like thirty than fifteen.

Faith quickened her step towards them, bare feet scrunching pebbles, the object of her excitement hidden behind her back.

Hope peered up first, face lighting up when she saw her older sister.

‘How’s the poem going?’ Faith asked her.