.

      The Borough Press

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

      First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

      Copyright © Lionel Shriver 2017

      Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

      Cover images © Shutterstock.com

      Lionel Shriver asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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

      This novella 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 ebooks

      Source ISBN: 9780008265274

      Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008265281

      Version: 2020-03-23

       Dedication

       In bottomless gratitude, to Jeff and Sue. This is not about you.