The Sick Rose (42 page)

‘Think of the planning that must have gone into that to get it perfect,’ said Elaine. ‘That’s real precision engineering. You’d have to get the water pressure and the positioning of those fountains right to the nearest millimetre.’ To test her theory, Elijah put his hand in front of one of the jets and the whole pattern fell apart. Jonah chopped the water into droplets. Elaine crouched in the spray to read a plaque that was set into the base of the fountain. Unlike the coloured signs telling the history of Kelstice, this was not part of the narrative but reserved for those in the know, or for the kind of person who stopped to notice all the details.

‘Oh, that’s so sad,’ said Elaine. ‘Look, they died.’

He dropped to his knees next to his wife with no small effort; automatically she put out a hand to steady him. The inscription was gold letters on black stone.

THIS FOUNTAIN IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY

OF LOUISA TREVELYAN AND PAUL SEAFORTH,

WHO HELPED TO CREATE THIS GARDEN

AND WHO DIED IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT

ON THIS SITE ON 15TH JANUARY 2010

Louisa Trevelyan, Louisa Trevelyan . . . It was like a very beautiful, very short poem, or a prayer. The worst headache of his life threw him to the floor. Spitting sand and tasting blood, he curled up in a ball and sealed his eyes against the image of her face and her little silver-ringed hands, reaching out to push against his chest. A dozen forgotten songs played in his head at once in a blaring cacophony.

‘Al, what’s wrong?’ said Elaine. She crouched over him, blocking the sun. ‘Alan?’

He opened his mouth to scream.

Author
’
s Note

The Warwickshire village of Kelstice is my own invention, although the garden restoration project was partly inspired by a similar one at Kenilworth Castle, just a few miles up the notional Kelstice Road. I have played similarly fast and loose with the geography of my home county, Essex, superimposing the Grays Reach Estate on a blameless commuter development on the river’s edge.

The Roof Gardens are real, and Kensington Market was for decades a thriving hub of alternative youth culture. Despite vigorous campaigning from the people who loved the place, it was pulled down in 1997. The site now hosts a branch of PC World.

Acknowledgements

Writing can be a lonely profession but the support and encouragement of the following people made this book feel like a group effort. Huge thanks and love to Team Sick Rose: Sarah Ballard, Suzie Dooré,  Jessica Craig, Eleni Fostiropoulos, Lara Hughes Young, Michael Kelly, Lynne Kelly, George Lewis, Michael Moylan, Helen Treacy, Francine Toon and Jennifer Whitehead Chadwick.