The Memory of Lost Senses
Read The Memory of Lost Senses Online
Authors: Judith Kinghorn
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS
OF JUDITH KINGHORN
The Memory of Lost Senses
“A perfect summer read, this is a must for fans of
Downton Abbey
.”
—
WeightWatchers Magazine
(UK)
“Mysterious, evocative, and deeply sensual,
The Memory of Lost Senses
brings to life a lost era, a golden dream before it comes to an end. In its portrayal of how we change the past, and how we can lose it, the novel delves through fascinating layers and explores the real nature of truth. This moving story is not to be missed.”
—Simone St. James, RITA Award–winning author of
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
and
An Inquiry into Love and Death
“Exquisite . . . a sensual and visual feast of a story, and a powerful follow-up to last year’s enthralling debut,
The Last Summer
. . . a mesmerizing book of finely wrought words. The evocative tale of an elderly woman for whom the past is both a comfort and a tyranny, a place that holds unutterably beautiful memories, and painful events that torment and haunt. . . . Thoughtful, delicately crafted, and imaginative,
The Memory of Lost Senses
is a page-turning, atmospheric mystery story but with a powerful, all-consuming love affair burning deep at its core to direct the action . . . and steal our hearts.”
—
Lancashire Evening Post
(UK)
The Last Summer
“Well-drawn characters combined with flawless writing make Kinghorn’s debut a triumph. This story kept me up for many nights in a row, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Un-put-downable and relentlessly intriguing, this is a tale for the ages. I expect it’s not the last we’ll hear from this talented storyteller; at least, I hope not!”
—Dish Magazine
“A glorious read, highly recommended.”
—The Bookseller (UK)
“Don’t miss
The Last Summer
by Judith Kinghorn. [An] epic and enthralling love story set against the backdrop of the Great War.”
—
Woman and Home
(UK)
“The year is 1914, and love and war are about to transform privileged sixteen-year-old Clarissa’s charmed existence forever. This sumptuous romance is made for fans of
Downton
.”
—
The Lady
(UK)
“
The Last Summer
is irresistible: a captivating story of love and family against the backdrop of World War I and its aftermath. I stayed up late reading, hooked on its sensuous prose, elegant settings, and fascinating characters.”
—Margaret Wurtele, author of
The Golden Hour
“Impeccably written and well researched, this is an atmospheric and haunting read. It takes the reader from languorous summer days by the lake on a country estate to the horror of the trenches with equal aplomb. . . . Judith Kinghorn skillfully navigates our journey through love and loss . . . the perfect balance of romance and grit by a great new writer. Don’t miss it!”
—Deborah Swift, author of
The Gilded Lily
and
The Lady’s Slipper
“Judith Kinghorn has beautifully captured the thoughts and feelings of a particular group in a lost generation. From an historical perspective, Kinghorn has clearly done her research, which is illustrated in the small details that capture the war and postwar periods, making
The Last Summer
entirely believable and often shocking. . . . Despite the themes of loss, grief, and change,
The Last Summer
is above all a wonderful and heartbreaking love story . . . highly recommended!”
—One More Page (UK)
“An enchanting story of love and war, and the years beyond.”
—Penny Vincenzi, bestselling author of
Wicked Pleasures
“A sumptuous, absorbing tale of love in time of war. Judith Kinghorn’s novel brilliantly illuminates the experiences of a generation of blighted youth.”
—Rachel Hore,
Sunday Times
bestselling author of
A Place of Secrets
Also by Judith Kinghorn
The Last Summer
THE
MEMORY OF
LOST SENSES
JUDITH KINGHORN
New American Library
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
A Penguin Random House Company
Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC. This is an authorized reprint of an ebook edition published by Headline Publishing Group. For information address Headline Publishing Group, a Hachette UK Company, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.
Copyright © Judith Kinghorn, 2013
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Kinghorn, Judith.
The memory of lost senses/Judith Kinghorn.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-101-63730-2
1. Women—England—Fiction. 2. Country life—England—Fiction.
3. Friendship—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6111.I59M46 2014
823'.92—dc23 2013032008
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, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
FOR MAX AND BELLA.
IN MEMORIAM
JME SHEPHERD 1895–1917
“Rome, before 1870, was seductive beyond resistance . . . shadows breathed and glowed, full of soft forms felt by lost senses.”
—Henry James
“If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.”
—Jane Austen,
Mansfield Park
Contents
A CONVERSATION WITH JUDITH KINGHORN
Sometimes it’s easy to be blind, to run into the blackness and know you are heading in the right direction. Know that beyond the dark is light, and that behind you all is dark. Know that your destination—wherever it may be—will be infinitely better than your point of departure. This is how it was that night.
And though the girl already knew about the need to take flight, she had not anticipated her own escape, had never been out in the dead of night, the witching hour, grazing dripping brick and corrugated iron, the backsides of tenements and factories and warehouses; clambering over ramshackle fences, sidestepping rat-infested ditches and sewers.
But fear of the night—its otherworldliness—was nothing compared to what had just taken place at home.
At the end of the alleyway the woman finally stopped, released the girl’s hand and dropped the bag to the ground. The girl was still whimpering, and shaking; shaking so violently she thought her legs might give way, thought she might fall to the sodden ground and be swallowed up by Hell and Damnation. Her feet were numb, her shoes and the hem of her dress caked in wet mud from cutting through the market gardens. She could smell the river, its stench permeating the fog, and knew they were close. But she must not make a sound. No, no sound. She had been told that, and slapped.