The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay
Read The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay Online
Authors: Andrea Gillies
UK PRAISE FOR
THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF NINA FINDLAY
“Romance is everywhere in this novel: filial, parental, platonic, amorous—and flirting and coupling and unraveling. But
The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay
is not chick lit. There’s a provocative intelligence in Gillies’ tale that challenges perceptions and beliefs about love, honesty, and betrayal. At its heart lies a mystery in the diary of Nina’s mother that holds the key to her own self-knowledge.” —
Bookanista.com
A Bookanista Summer Reading Pick, 2014
“
The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay
traces the loops and fissures of memory … it moves backwards and forwards over several decades, uncovering intergenerational secrets and the holes in the stories people tell themselves.”
—The Guardian
“Gillies’ second novel is an intelligent, thoughtful, grown-up romance about second chances and the complications of relationships.”
—Sunday Herald
(Scotland)
“A delicate depiction of life, love, and possible madness … Moving and surprising.”
—Daily Express
“If you like a book that makes you think as well as lose yourself, this is the one. Gillies portrays the complexities of relationships, and draws her characters so clearly, you think you really know them in real life. And then you’re sad because you don’t. I can’t recommend it highly enough.” —Katie Fforde
“Funny and wise … Not to be missed.”
—Good Housekeeping
“A real page-turner.”
—My Weekly
ALSO BY ANDREA GILLIES
Keeper: One House, Three Generations, and a Journey into Alzheimer’s
The White Lie: A Novel
Copyright © Andrea Gillies 2014
Originally published in the UK by Short Books in March 2014.
“Cucurrucucú paloma” lyrics on
this page
translated by Rachel McCormack.
Original Spanish lyrics by Tomás Méndez.
Production Editor: Yvonne E. Cárdenas
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Other Press LLC, except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. For information write to Other Press LLC, 2 Park Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Or visit our Web site:
www.otherpress.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Gillies, Andrea.
The enlightenment of Nina Findlay / Andrea Gillies.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-59051-729-1 (print) — ISBN 978-1-59051-730-7 (e-book)
1. Triangles (Interpersonal relations) — Fiction. 2. Greece — Fiction.
I. Title.
PR6107.I4665E64 2015
823′.92 — dc23 2014036711
Publisher’s Note:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
TO FRIENDS MET ALONG THE ROAD
Contents
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
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 ONE
When the minibus came round the sharpest bend of the descent, trundling along in poor light on the stony dirt road, its driver failed, at first, to see the woman standing taking photographs. He didn’t see her until just before he ran into her.
Afterwards, Nina surprised people by insisting on taking all the blame for the accident. She was the fool who’d stood in the middle of the hill road at dusk, pale-haired in gray clothes and very nearly invisible. Later she’d hear that Andros was given a hard time; poor Andros was bombarded with questions. Why hadn’t he turned on his lights? Why wasn’t he wearing his glasses? Why did he react the way he reacted and put seven people’s lives at risk? It wasn’t just the facts that mattered, but the sequence. This was something Nina would think about a lot, during her recuperation: chains of events and how they could take people in unexpected directions.