This Is How It Ends (29 page)
Read This Is How It Ends Online
Authors: Kathleen MacMahon
My heartfelt thanks to my agent, Marianne Gunn O’Connor; and to her subagent, Vicki Satlow; to my editors, Rebecca Saunders and Helen Atsma; and everyone else at Little, Brown and Grand Central for all their hard work on my behalf. Thanks to Cormac Kinsella, who was there at the start. I’m very grateful for the assistance of Larry McDonald, formerly of Lehman Brothers; Andrew X Kopiak and Margot Collins from the American embassy in Dublin; and Christine McDonnell of the National Library of Ireland. Thanks to Aoife Kavanagh and Pat Lynch for their guidance on all things Bruce Springsteen; and to Kimberley Rogers, Valerie Bistany, and Mema Byrne for their help with the manuscript. Thanks to Mary Reynolds for her help, and a special thank-you to Margaret Dunne, without whom nothing would get done. Thanks to Niamh and Gerry Hurley for all their support. For their wise counsel, thanks to Sara Burke, Hilary McGouran, Ronan Browne, and James Ryan. And to the much-loved Caroline Walsh, who was a great champion of so many people, including me. Finally, thanks with all my heart to Lucy, Clara, and Mark. To Meg, Kevin, and Des, my endless love and gratitude. And to Valdi, I hope she knows.
Kathleen MacMahon is a journalist for RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcasting service. She lives in Dublin with her husband and twin daughters.
This Is How It Ends
is her first novel.
“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Joe South. Copyright © Joe South, 1967 (Sony/ATV Songs LLC).
“Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright © 1975 Bruce Springsteen, renewed © 2003 Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP). Reprinted by permission. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
“Badlands” by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright © 1978 Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP). Reprinted by permission. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
“The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright © 2002 Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP). Reprinted by permission. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
“Brilliant Disguise” by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright © 1987 Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP). Reprinted by permission. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
“Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright © 1982 Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP). Reprinted by permission. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from “A Drover” by Padraic Colum reprinted with permission from the estate of Mary Eleanor O’Sullivan. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Kathleen MacMahon
First published in Great Britain in May 2012 by Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
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First e-book edition: August 2012
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ISBN: 978-1-4555-1130-3