The Children (32 page)

Ann Leary
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Good House
and two previous books,
An Innocent
,
a Broad
and
Outtakes from a Marriage.
She has written short fiction and essays for
The New York Times
,
Ploughshares
, and NPR's “You Must Read This,” among others. Leary lives with her family in northwestern Connecticut. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

    

 

Thank you for buying this

St. Martin's Press ebook.

 

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

 

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

 

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

 

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Acknowledgments

Also by Ann Leary

About the Author

Copyright

 

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

THE CHILDREN
. Copyright © 2016 by Ann Leary. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Olga Grlic

Cover art: people silhouettes © Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock; watercolor swatch © Lana Smirnova/Shutterstock; brush stroke © Solarbird/Shutterstock

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

Names: Leary, Ann, author.

Title: The children: a novel / Ann Leary.

Description: First edition.|New York: St. Martin's Press, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015048744|ISBN 9781250045379 (hardcover)|ISBN 9781466844025 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Stepfamilies—New England—Fiction. | Brothers and sisters—Fiction. | Family secrets—Fiction. | Domestic fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Contemporary Women. | FICTION / Family Life.

Classification: LCC PS3612.E238 C48 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015048744

e-ISBN 9781466844025

Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.

First Edition: May 2016