By the Same Author

Also by Lily King

The Pleasing Hour

The English Teacher

Father of the Rain

Euphoria

Writers & Lovers

First published 2021 by Grove Atlantic, New York First published in the UK in paperback 2021 by Picador This electronic edition published 2021 by Picador an imprint of Pan Macmillan

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ISBN 978-1-5290-8650-8

Copyright © Lily King 2021

Cover illustrations © Liza Rusalskaya

The right Lily King to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

These stories appeared in slightly altered form in the following magazines: ‘South’ and ‘Five Tuesdays in Winter’ in Ploughshares, ‘When in the Dordogne’ in One Story, ‘The Man at the Door’

in the Harvard Review, and ‘Timeline’ in O Magazine.

‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’, words by Neil Diamond, Marilyn Bergman and Alan Bergman; music by Neil Diamond; copyright © 1977. Stonebridge-Music, Inc. and Spirit Catalog Holdings, S.A.R.L. Copyright Renewed. All Rights for Stonebridge-Music, Inc. administered by Universal Tunes. All rights for Spirit Catalog Holdings, S.A.R.L. controlled and administered by Spirit Two Music, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard LLC.

Illustrations by Calla King-Clements

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

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Document Outline

• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Creature
• Five Tuesdays in Winter
• When in the Dordogne
• North Sea
• Timeline
• Hotel Seattle
• Waiting for Charlie
• Mansard
• South
• The Man at the Door
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• By the Same Author
• Copyright