Havisham: A Novel (36 page)

*   *   *

In the branches of the tree, while the thrush sings its solitary song, Catherine Havisham has her final thought.

It all passes in the world, at least.

This is her summons to leave.

To fresh woods now, in Elysium.

The moment has come as it will, for her as for everyone, at its due time.

If I had a mantle blue, I would twitch it.

And so – away!

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the past I have – stoically, I reckoned – eschewed those extensive authors’ thank-you’s which have become the norm.

I should know to be more modest, and more realistic, and to fit in with my times. I owe
many
debts of gratitude.

With this novel you hold in your hands, or are reading on a screen, I wish to acknowledge full credit to publisher Stephen Morrison; his assistant, Peter J. Horoszko; managing editor Kolt Beringer; and their brilliant colleagues at Picador USA.

Also to editors Mary Morris and Lee Brackstone and the very dedicated team at Faber & Faber in London. To Adrian Searle, who restored my faith in literary agents, and to Matthew Bates at Sayle Screen, who has loyally stood by me.

What splendid company I’m lucky enough to keep!

Havisham
was a drama, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Chambers Concise Dictionary
provided information on the name ‘Estella’.

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

R
ONALD
F
RAME
was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and educated there and at Oxford University. He is also a dramatist and winner of the Samuel Beckett Prize and the UK TV Industries’ Most Promising Writer New to Television Award. Many of his original radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC. His novel
The Lantern Bearers
was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, named the Scottish Book of the Year, and cited by the American Library Association (Barbara Gittings Honor Award). He lives outside Glasgow.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

HAVISHAM
. Copyright © 2012 by Ronald Frame. All rights reserved. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

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Cover design by Henry Sene Yee

Cover illustration by Alan Dingman

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Frame, Ronald.

Havisham / Ronald Frame.—First U.S. edition.

pages; cm.

ISBN 978-1-250-03727-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-03729-9 (e-book)

1.  England—Social conditions—19th century—Fiction.   I.  Title.

PR6056.R262H38 2013

823'.914—dc23

2013003787

eISBN 9781250037299

Originally published in Great Britain by Faber and Faber Limited

First Picador Edition: November 2013