Freya North - Polly

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 resemblace to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely conincidental.

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by

William Heinemann 1998

Copyright © Freya North 1998

Afterword © Freya North 2012

Freya North asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Extracts here Pennies in a stream Falling leaves of sycamore Moonlight in Vermont Karl Suessdorf & John Blackburn, Moonlight in Vermont , here Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. and here Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. from ‘Moonlight in Vermont’ by Karl Suessdorf and John Blackburn; Extracts here Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. from ‘Tam O’Shanter’ by Robert Burns;

‘Pied Beauty’ by Gerald Manley Hopkins; ‘Somet, Bright Start’ by John Keats; ‘Proverbial Philosophy’, 1st series. ‘Of Discretion’ by Martin Farquhar Tupper;

‘Lead Kindly Night’ by Henry Newman

The author and publisher have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright holders for permission, and any omissions or errors in the form of credit given will be corrected in future editions

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

Source ISBN: 9780007462193

Ebook Edition © June 2012 ISBN:9780007462209

Version: 2017-11-28

FIRST EDITION

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 ebook 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.

For Osi

Welcome to the family, sis!

Table of Contents

Title Page FREYA NORTH Polly

Copyright

Dedication

Michaelmas

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

Lent

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

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Summer

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-two

Afterword

About the Author

Acclaim for Freya

Also by Freya North

About the Publisher

Pennies in a stream

Falling leaves of sycamore

Moonlight in Vermont

Karl Suessdorf & John Blackburn, Moonlight in Vermont

If Polly Fenton had thought for one moment that a year in America was going to have serious ramifications for her accent and her relationship with Max Fyfield, she very probably would not be going. But the concept hasn’t crossed her mind and so she is trading Belsize Park, London, for Hubbardtons Spring, Vermont, on a teachers’ exchange programme.

Tomorrow.

Today, she must pack and prepare.

Currently, she is wrapping articles of clothing around bumper-sized jars of Marmite.

‘Look, Buster, I’ve never been to America,’ she explains to her oversized ginger tom-cat who regards her reproachfully. ‘This is an amazing opportunity,’ she clarifies, as much to herself as to Buster’s withering yawn. ‘Max said so,’ she furthers, looking at a photograph of him, clasping it to her heart before swaddling it in pairs of knickers and placing it in the suitcase.

Apart from Buster, Polly actually has everyone’s blessing. The offer of the exchange wasn’t even put out to tender amongst the school staff and when Polly asked Max what he thought, he declared, ‘Go West, young woman. Wow!’

Her friends have taken to talking to her in American accents, scattering twangy sentences with liberal dashings of ‘sonava’, ‘goddam’ and ‘gee’. Such supportive reactions have enabled Polly to feel just on the verge of rather excited about her year away. And why shouldn’t she be? Her life in London is safe and lovely and she knows it will greet her as such on her return. And yet, over the last week and particularly today, on packing, those quivers of excitement are masking tremors of fear.

She is twenty-seven years old, petite in stature but large in character. Her dead straight, rich brown hair hangs in a neat, fringed bob, the gloss and hue of dark, clear honey (though she wishes it were a more Marmitey shade and sheen, of course). Eyes that are mostly rich hazel turn khaki in times of extreme emotion. They invariably change colour on a daily basis when some fact or fantasy subsumes her.