This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters

and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or

localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers

77-85 Fulham Palace Road,

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

The HarperCollins website address is:

www.flreandwater.com

This paperback edition 2002

1 357 9 8642

First published in Great Britain

in 1995 by HarperCollinsPublishers

Copyright Š Robert Wilson 1995

Robert Wilson asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 00 647985 5

Set in Meridien

Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

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, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior

permission of the publishers.

For Jane

and

in memory of my father

1922-1980