How It Ends – Saskia Sarginson

They’re mesmerised, yet a rest- lessness possesses them, the way they clutch their handbags tighter, adjust hats, while none of them speak or break their study of the sign. Ruby peers over their shoulders. Ladies — we are sorry but we are out of Miltown! Ruby reads and then rereads the sign, mouthing the words as if they might change on her tongue. She looks at the uncom- prehending faces around her. ‘What do they mean” she asks. ‘For how long?’ Her questions seem to break the spell.

‘There goes my sanity!’ Sandy Peters winds her finger in circles next to her ear, a bright smile on her lips. ‘They’ll get another shipment in soon, right? another woman asks. Dark hair combed high off her forehead. Ruby goes inside the centre to find more wives jostling at the desk, the receptionist shrugging her shoulders.

“There’s a worldwide shortage.’ The girl looks over her glasses, impressed with her own importance. ‘Can’t you do something? You’ll have a riot on your hands if you don’t. Betty is there, gesturing towards the door as if to a gang of mutineers, rather than a handful of women. Her white gloves conduct the air like a traffic policeman. ‘Doctor Rowland says it’s run out in the States, too” The receptionist is less certain.

Her nose twitches. She backs away from the desk, obviously expecting to be overcome by the promised mutiny. Ruby avoids making eye contact with Betty. She slips away and walks home, heels clicking along at a pace, but preventing herself from breaking into a jog. As soon as she gets in, she goes through the medicine cabinet, systematically tipping out every bottle, rummaging behind cough mixture and jars of cold cream. She empties the contents of all her handbags onto the kitchen table, sorting through the jumble of hankies and combs and dollars.

There are two pills left. Only two. For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful. Days later, Ruby is hunched over the toilet bowl in a different kind of prayer, retching up acid yellow.

Saskia Sarginson was awarded a distinction in her MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway after a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University and a BA in Fashion Design & Communications. Before becoming a full-time author, Saskia’s writing experience included being a health and beauty editor on women’s magazines, a ghost writer for the BBC and HarperCollins, copywriting and script editing. Saskia lives in south London with her partner and four children. Visit Saskia Sarginson online: www.saskiasarginson.co.uk www.facebook.com/saskiasarginsonbooks – @saskiasarginson 100 WN UT 3011813824608 1 By Saskia Sarginson The Twins Without You The Other Me The Stranger How It Ends SASKIA SARGINSON how it ends piatkus PIATKUS First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Piatkus This paperback edition published in 2019 by Piatkus 13579108642 Copyright © 2018 by Saskia Sarginson The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-349-41998-5 Typeset in Goudy by M Rules Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A. Papers used by Piatkus are from well-managed forests and other responsible sources. ® MIX ‘SS Pi from FSC >aper responsible sources z= cere n4an424An LANCASHIRE COUNTY LIBRARY 3011813824608 1 Askews & Holts 23-May-2019 | AF AFTH £8.99 PROLOGUE Ruby doesn’t know how the book came into her possession.

Perhaps he brought it to her on one of his visits, along with armfuls of tulips and boxes of chocolates. She shows it to her visitors — the woman with the mop in her hand, the girl who blushes when she speaks — ‘Look, Ruby says, pointing to the name on the cover.

‘My son. Christopher Delaney. It has letters picked out in scarlet, in a raised font, which is pleasing to run her finger over, like Braille, or a secret message. It takes her breath away to know that her child is the author of this novel. She reads and rereads his name, his beloved name.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: f53b4a3b7e62e153
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 15,644,137 bytes (14.919 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9780349419985
• Pages: 405
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 547.18 minutes
• Total Words: 109,437
• Total Characters: 612,398
• Average Words per Page: 270.21
• Average Characters per Page: 1512.09

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