The shelves of my library-for I think of it as mine, now, earned through inheritance and labours both-remain only approximately half-filled, though there is another collection of works on my desk, awaiting categorization.

My desk is now the central one, at the back of the room, where the light from the windows illuminates most strongly.-There is ( Read more... )

Had Briony any idea at all of what she would find in the bookshelf that evening, she would have stayed safely away ( Read more... )

If only because she could not escape the dual ghosts of her mother and the Queen of France taking her to task for ignoring an event, Anne had put on a lovely green dress and stopped by the Mardi Gras party. No mask, so that her presence could be noted by anyone who wished to, and then she left, for she could not abide any more of that foolish ( Read more... )

For some time, he'd been anticipating the date with no small amount of trepidation. Now that it was here, though, Sasan was rather pleased to find out that Day #366 of his island stay was really not that much different from all the rest of them. For a given value of the word 'pleased,' anyway. He woke up, had a light breakfast and a short run, ( Read more... )

The island had done it again. Whether it was pure chance or benevolence none of them would ever know, but somehow, someway, the place had seen fit to give them all booze again ( Read more... )

I find, time and time again, that I have not been adequately prepared for a life without structure; I have no appointments, no routine other than that I devise for myself and it becomes mind-numbing ( Read more... )

If you had been upstairs in the Compound or in the Hub at six in the evening of December 31, you might have thought your eyes were playing tricks on you, or that you'd once again been whisked off to some strange, new place. Within the blink of an eye, the rooms had changed, sparkling instantly with festive decorations, and it was all so ( Read more... )

Atia goes to her daughter's dwelling to discover the fire cold and her daughter not there. Maud, also looking for Octavia, finds her there, and they come to the unpleasant conclusion that she is no longer on the island. For all of their dislike of each other, it would seem that Maud and Atia are more alike than they care to admit, neither truly ( Read more... )

I have been idle, these past few months, perhaps lulled into complacency by the constant repetition of days; I was ever a creature of routine, having nothing else, marking off the passage of an hour by the task I perform, as if I were but an ornament in a clock, run by gears and pendulums, lacking any sort of motive force of my own. Indeed, I had ( Read more... )

Settling into the compound, Lyla meets her roomate, Maud. It doesn't start very well, but it gets a bit better by the end. Sort of.

Dated to the 15th of September