Mortimer Penelope: The Pumpkin Eater

“Left? When?”

“On Wednesday.”

“But … why?”

“She said she couldn’t go on.”

“Then who’s been … looking after you?”

“Dinah didn’t go to school.”

“We managed all right.”

I went down the stairs. They stood back to let me pass, then raced on up the stairs, from room to room, calling the cats.

“He said we should come here,” Dinah said.

“Yes. Of course.”

I went outside. The air was much warmer than I had expected.

“He’s buying some bread and stuff,” Dinah said. “In case you haven’t got any.”

I saw Jake climbing up through the mist. Clear of it, he stopped, looked up at the tower, then came on. I was no longer frightened of him. I no longer needed him. I accepted him at last, because he was inevitable.

“I brought the children down,” he said. “I thought I might join you for a while.”

I have tried to be honest with you, although I suppose that you would really have been more interested in my not being honest. Some of these things happened, and some were dreams. They are all true, as I understood truth. They are all real, as I understood reality.

THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK

PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

www.nyrb.com

Copyright © 1962 by the Estate of Penelope Mortimer

Introduction copyright © 2011 by Daphne Merkin

All rights reserved.

Cover image: Susan Bower Downhill in a Pram , 2007; Private collection / The Bridgeman Art Library

Cover design: Katy Homans

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data Mortimer, Penelope, 1918–1999.

The pumpkin eater / by Penelope Mortimer; introduction by Daphne Merkin.

p. cm. — (New York review books classics)

I. Merkin, Daphne. II. Title.

PR6063.O815P86 2010

823'.914 — dc22

2010034049

eISBN 978-1-59017-400-5

v1.0

For a complete list of books in the NYRB Classics series, visit www.nyrb.com or write to:

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