Winter’s Children: Curl up with this gripping, page-turning mystery as the nights get darker. Leah Fleming

      LEAH FLEMING

      Winter’s Children

       Copyright

      HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers in 2010 This ebook edition published by HarperCollins Publishers in 2017

      Copyright © Leah Fleming 2010

      Cover layout design © Becky Glibbery 2017

       Cover photographs © Shutterstock

      Leah Fleming asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      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.

      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 e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9781847561046

      Ebook Edition © November 2010 ISBN: 9780007352487

      Version: 2017-08-28

      For all the Wiggins, past, present and future who love this season.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

      Dedication

Christmas Eve

At the Eve of All Souls

Yorkshire, November 2001

Sutton Coldfield, October 2001

Northbound

Hepzibah Snowden, 1653

Stone Walling

Farmhouse

Anona Norton, 1653

       Village School

       Quiz Night

       A Stormy Forecast

       Joss Snowden and the London Painter, July 1816

       Christmas Shopping

       Agnes, 1869

       1874

       Shadow Fire

       Refuge

       Shirley and the German Christmas, December 1946

       Understanding

       Evie, December 2001

       The Search

       Christmas Eve 2001

      A Jacob’s Join Christmas

       Author’s Note

       Reading Group Questions

       About the Author

       By the same author

       About the Publisher

       Christmas Eve

       Sutton Coldfield, December 2000

      When the doorbell rang on Christmas Eve, at first Kay and the Partridge family were too busy wrapping up last-minute presents to answer it.

      ‘Tim’s forgotten his key again,’ Kay shouted to her mother-in-law. ‘Trust him to be home late!’ Since their house had been sold, they were living with Tim’s parents until the move to London in the New Year. ‘Evie, go and open the door for Daddy!’ she yelled to their small daughter, who was as high as a kite on chocolate decorations that had been destined for the Christmas tree. Kay hoped Tim had stopped off at the garden centre to pick one up. He’d promised to dress it with Evie a week ago but the firm had wanted him to go north to secure a deal in Newcastle.

      ‘Is that you, darling? You’re so