The House of Marvellous Books by Fiona Vigo Marshall

Author:Fiona Vigo Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairlight Books
Published: 2022-03-01T10:01:08+00:00

Ursula

Ursula Woodrow, editorial assistant

The House of Marvellous Books

Wayfarers and Wilderness, our award-winning nature list

We’ve long regarded the Please be kind list as an infallible source of gossip and news but who exactly are these Krukinovs? What difficulties? What is going on? I think something has been revealed to the kindness list or at least to Gerard that is hidden from the eyes of the rest of us. We all agreed that it was time for a word with Gerard about this on his return, but an urgent email from Gerard working from home to ALL@HQ pinged into our boxes, asking us to delete the kind thoughts list immediately, as certain individuals/causes had been inappropriately listed. We were promised a new one shortly.

Tuesday 25 June

Gerard in, moving rather stiffly but otherwise whole. Of course no one dared mention the subject of his unfortunate tumble. Maybe he’ll explain further once he’s got over the shock. Fay did, however, quiz him about the mysterious mentions of the Krukinovs in the kindness list.

In his most reassuring way, Gerard said there was nothing to worry about, yet. He said he was sure we’d understand that he was not at liberty to speak further, and that we would know more when the time was ripe.

‘I hope I – er – may be able to send out another email in a day or two,’ he said in his best Oxbridge manner, a compound of sweetness, light, authority and complete untrustworthiness. And with that we had perforce to be content.

Sister Evangeline sent in her synopsis for Sister Night: Sacred Sleep and the Forest of Dreams, finally. She seems to have no idea of earthly time whatsoever! Alas, it is 8,900 words long and absolute rubbish.

Wednesday 26 June

I scanned the re-jigged kindness list and was interested to see that the references to difficulties and the Krukinovs had been taken out. All very unsatisfactory.

Thursday 27 June

Editorial board, postponed from Tuesday due to Gerard’s accident. I entered the Fisher Room to an unusual silence. There was a stranger seated at the table. Moreover, he had taken the throne. I think the last time someone sat in that was when we had a visit from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The visitor was clearly unaware of his presumption. He was short and stocky in his navy suit, probably in his late forties, with a brosse of receding fair hair, athletic shoulders and a slight smile of covert, private irony. High cheekbones, a tired air and sad, blue, byzantine eyes with a downward tilt added to this impression. He surveyed us as we came in and took our accustomed seats.

‘Hello,’ said Drusilla, and was palpably about to introduce herself and launch enquiries when Gerard came in.

‘Good morning, good morning. Everyone introduced? Good, then let’s get stuck straight in. —Fay.’

Drusilla opened her mouth but Fay was already off, presenting Mythic Myopia: Making the mysteries visible. Drusilla, distracted from our visitor, or, more likely, playing up to a new audience, responded with a twenty-minute talk about

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.