City of Halves (33 page)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On a winter day outside St Paul's I saw a small, pale girl in skinny jeans and boys' boots, with the most beautiful hair. She was looking at her phone, head down. Then she shoved the phone into her back pocket and strode away towards Cannon Street, full of purpose. I watched her go, and I knew her name was Lily. Wherever you are now, thank you.

My Lily has lived many lives and Katie Sedler has been there for all of them, and believed in this story from the moment I could talk about it on a balcony on Hatton Garden, so many summers ago. Lily, Regan and I couldn't have done it without you, Baby.

Yet another hat tip to my husband Richard, without whom none of this would be possible.

Thanks to my agent Kirsty McLachlan, always, and to the team at David Godwin Associates.

Thank you to my editor, Imogen Cooper, for taking such good care of my girl.

To everyone at Chicken House for their boundless enthusiasm and love for what they do.

And thank you to Barry Cunningham, curator of stories. To be published by you is a dream. Mine came true.

TRY ANOTHER GREAT BOOK FROM CHICKEN HOUSE

FIRE & FLOOD by VICTORIA SCOTT

T
ella's brother is dying. He's got cancer and Tella is helpless to save him. Or so she thought.

When an invitation arrives for Tella to compete in the Brimstone Bleed, a deadly competition that will lead her through a treacherous jungle and scorching desert, she doesn't think twice. Because the prize is a cure to any illness. But Tella will be facing more than just the elements . . .

‘If you love The Hunger Games then this will be
right up your street . . . [a] great read'

THE BOOKSELLER

Paperback, ISBN 978-1-909489-62-2, £6.99 • ebook, ISBN 978-1-909489-63-9, £6.99

Text © Lucy Inglis 2014

First paperback edition published in Great Britain in 2014

This electronic edition published in 2014

The Chicken House

2 Palmer Street

Frome, Somerset BA11 1DS

United Kingdom

www.doublecluck.com

Lucy Inglis has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical or otherwise, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express prior written permission of the publisher.

Produced in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Cover and interior design by Helen Crawford-White

Cover photographs: girl ©
istock.com/ivanastar
; boy ©
istock.com/CameronWhitman
; smoke ©
istock.com/tazytaz
; St. Paul's © Nigel French/Shutterstock

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data available.

PB ISBN 978-1-909489-09-7
eISBN 978-1-909489-53-0