The Poison Diaries. Maryrose Wood
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The Poison Diaries
By
Maryrose Wood
Based on a concept by the Duchess of Northumberland
First published in paperback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2010
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Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780007387045
Version: 2017-02-22
FIRST EDITION
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for Jane and her wonderful gardens
Table of Contents
15th March
GREY SKIES; THE RAIN CAME AND WENT ALL MORNING.
A cold wind blew in gusts, worsening as the day went on, until the lowest branch of the great chestnut tree in the courtyard splintered down the middle and crashed to the ground. If I had been standing underneath, I would have been crushed.
Spun wool after breakfast. Read for a short while, but my eyes ached too much from sewing to continue long. Changed the soaking water for the belladonna seeds.
Father is still not home; it has been two days.
The berries of the belladonna plant are beautiful. I have always thought so. I would string the plump black pearls on silk thread and wear them around my neck if they were not so deadly.
The seeds are nearly as poisonous as the berries; Father has warned me a thousand times. But I am careful. First I tie the seeds in clean muslin bags and drop them in a pail of cold water. Before they can be planted they must soak for at least two weeks, and I must change the water every day. That is how Mother Nature would do it: the snow would fall and melt and then fall again. And it would be too risky to leave the seeds in the ground during the cold months; they might get eaten by birds and carried away to grow in some distant field, where they could wreak their mischief without warning. Instead I make-believe a winter for them, to trick them into growing only when and where I wish.
Even after all that care, only a few seeds will sprout, and of those half will soon shrivel back into the dirt. Are you so in love with death, lovely lady? I call you lovely lady, for that is what ‘belladonna’