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Extracts

Extract
The Origin of Me

According to family lore, exactly forty weeks after my father won the prestigious and fiercely contested GravyLog® Pet Food account for his advertising agency, I was born.

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The Cedar Tree

Stella came from over the mountains. From a place battered by the lash of the wind and buffeted by the lifting soil.

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The Lost Love Song

The love song began its life, not with a fanfare or a crash of cymbals, but instead with a knock at a door.

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Separation Anxiety

I start wearing the family dog, a mini-sheltie, a little Lassie, in an unbleached cotton baby sling across the front of my body like a messenger bag, a few weeks shy of fall.

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Journey of the Pharaohs

Heat shimmered in waves across the Valley of the Kings as the merciless sun baked the desert sands into clay.

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20th Victim

Cindy Thomas was tuned in to her police scanner as she drove through the Friday-morning rush to her job at the San Francisco Chronicle.

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The Boy from the Woods

In one of the most bizarre cases in recent history, a wild-haired young boy, estimated to be between six and eight years old, was discovered living on his own in the Ramapo Mountain State Forest near the suburb of Westville.

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Sweetness and Light

India – although it could just as easily be Thailand, or Cambodia, or Colombia.

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The Banksia Bay Beach Shack

Laura rearranged the hydrangeas that adorned the end of each pew.

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The Authenticity Project

She had tried to return the book. As soon as she realized it had been left behind, she’d picked it up and rushed after its extraordinary owner.

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The Coconut Children

The full moon floats in the night sky like a cataract.

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Ali Cross

It had been three days since my friend disappeared and I was starting to think the worst might have happened.

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The Second Wife

It’s past midnight and the lights along the pier are jumping points of static, reflected in silver glimmers on the sea.

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The Two Lives of Lydia Bird

Most of life’s defining moments happen unexpectedly; sometimes they slide past you completely unnoticed until afterwards, if at all.

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The Recovery of Rose Gold

My daughter didn’t have to testify against me. She chose to.

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Watching from the Dark

Something clicked in the house and he froze, looking towards the closed door, his heart racing. Had it been the front door? Had someone come in?

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Into the Fire

The industrial sliding doors heaved open to a burst of bitter alpine air, a dizzying flurry of snow, and a barrage of hoarse cries

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The Wandering

Beware the gifts you accept, or so said your elders. But it’s too late. You ask for the package: a present that comes with a curse. Demon Lover has granted you a pair of red shoes.

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Happy Ever After

It doesn’t start with a kiss. It starts with the touch of bare knuckles under a molehill of cornflakes.

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The Lost Pianos of Siberia

Travel east by train from Moscow and the clip of iron on track beats out the rhythm of your approach towards the Ural Mountains.

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The Sisters Grimm

All souls are special. Son or daughter, Grimm or not, Life touches her spirit to every one of her creations.

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The Last Day

Two thirty a.m., and no signal yet. The American was waiting in his cramped little room; waiting for a pulse that would tell him London was calling.

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The Museum of Desire

Eno trudged up the road. Big fancy property like this, maybe a chance to hit a lick.

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When You See Me

My mother likes to hum. She stands at the stove, stirring this, tasting that, and humming, humming, humming.

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