Three Bags Full (28 page)

A Note of Warning

The sheep of Glennkill are exceptional sheep. Ordinary sheep don’t tolerate either alcohol or drugs. I must ask my readers not to tempt sheep to take any narcotic substances. If you really want to give a sheep something nice, try bread or genuine grass.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to M. E. Frensch, S. O’Donovan, my family, Florian O., Chloë H., Laura von O., Renate G., Ortwin D., Stefanie W., Sonja T., Stefanie S., K. La Storia, and A. Bohnenkamp. Special thanks to Louise C., Tanja K., and Martin S.

Very special thanks to Orla O’Toole, for our conversations at Leenane Sheep & Wool Centre (Connemara, Ireland) and for inspiring insights into the eventful lives of sheep.

For their help and enthusiasm, I would like to thank my agent, Astrid Poppenhausen; my German editor, Claudia Negele; and my English editor, Jane Lawson.

Many thanks to M., for great contributions and all kinds of everything.

About the Author

Leonie Swann was born in 1975. She took degrees in philosophy, psychology, and communications from Munich University, spent some time in Paris and Ireland, worked in journalism and public relations, and is currently preparing a doctorate in English literature.
Three Bags Full
, her first novel, is being translated into six languages.

PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY/ FLYING DOLPHIN PRESS

First published in 2005 by Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich, part of the Random House Group. Published in 2006 in the United Kingdom by Doubleday, a division of Transworld Publishers.

Copyright © 2005 by Leonie Swann

English-language translation © 2006 by Anthea Bell

Sheep arrangement by Wiebke Rossa

All Rights Reserved

Published in the United States by Doubleday/Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.doubleday.com

DOUBLEDAY/FLYING DOLPHIN PRESS
and its colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress

eISBN: 978-0-385-52312-7

v3.0