The Nurse by J. Corrigan (list of ebook readers txt) 📕

even more as I stare at him, and my mind propels itself back to that long-ago day at Bluefields Hospital. My first appointment with Mark Stephens, and seeing Miles just before, sitting with him in his office.

‘That day at Bluefields,’ I say, ‘when I told you Daniel had gone to see his sister. Did you know, Miles? Did you know that Daniel didn’t have a sister?’

‘His sister died years before.’ He moves closer to me. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘In all these years, you could have told me.’ If you’d told me, I might have guessed.

He nods. ‘I’m a weak man, Rose. Go home. I’ll finish up here.’

‘There’s something I have to tell you.’ I need to tell him about Abe’s warmth. What is done cannot be undone.

‘Later, tell me at home later.’ He touches my tear-laden cheek.

I will not be at home later.

Miles’s stubble is dark with the dampness of his own tears. ‘I could have stopped you,’ he says. ‘Go home, Rose.’

It’s then that I tell him about my diagnosis.

‘Rose—’

I look into my husband’s eyes. What have I become? What has he become? We are both empty. ‘You go, Miles. Please. I don’t want you involved. You need to keep working.’ I look around the unit. ‘This is your life.’

I turn away, and when finally I look back, Miles has gone. I kiss Abe’s forehead, and the desolate cavity inside my stomach engulfs me. I am gone too. Never to return.

Pulling the emergency cord, I wait for my colleagues to pour into the unit.

A Letter from J. A. Corrigan

Thank you so much for reading The Nurse. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you have the time to leave me a short, honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you purchased the book, I’d very much appreciate it. I love hearing what you think, and your reviews help me to reach new readers – which allows me to bring you more books! If you know of friends or family who would enjoy my book, I’d appreciate your assistance there too. Help spread the word!

If you’d like to keep up to date with any of my new releases, please visit www.jacorrigan.com/mailing-list to sign up for my newsletter. Your email will never be shared, and I’ll only contact you when I have news about a new release.

You can connect with me via my website, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and Twitter. I’d love to hear from you.

I began writing this novel with fire in my fingertips – Rose came alive inside my head immediately, as did Theo. The themes and nuances of the story, though, did take somewhat longer to gel. As someone somewhere once said, ‘Writing is about rewriting.’ Never has a truism been so… well… true.

I loved writing Rose and being able to draw on my own experiences from the medical world. I enjoyed creating Theo too, and although I took a gamble in making him a writer, a novelist, as he came to life in his first point-of-view paragraph I felt I’d got an angle on him instantly. With my two main characters created, the story, the premise, fell into place.

Readers often ask me how I can write such fundamentally dark stories. I think the answer is that as a writer of suspense fiction, I always ask ‘what if?’. It is this question that drives my novels. It also helps that in my everyday non-fiction-writing life, although I have an active and fertile imagination, I’m grounded, stable and happy! Often I take a protagonist and give them an absolutely normal life, but then something extraordinary happens to them. How will they react? What will they do? How will they feel? These questions move the narrative on, and the characters are never the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning. The trick is to ensure their journey is interesting and intriguing. I really hope that I have managed to do this for you, my readers.

JA

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PS Thank you again, so very much, for your support of my books. It really means the world to me.

Website: jacorrigan.com

Facebook: @jacorrigan

Twitter: @juliannwriter

Instagram: @corriganjulieann

Goodreads: JA Corrigan

Acknowledgements

I begin my acknowledgements with a huge thank you to my talented editor, Leodora Darlington, who picked up my manuscript with enthusiasm and verve and hit the ground running with it. A massive thank you too to my eagle-eyed copyeditor, Jane Selley, my proof-reader, sales and marketing and other members of the brilliant Canelo team. A special thank you to cover designer, Aaron Munday, who has absolutely aced the artwork. My experience has been joyous, and my publisher will have my everlasting gratitude for this.

I also extend my gratitude to my agent, Camilla Shestopal, who championed my work so readily. The publishing world is a tough business and so it’s been a revelation, and a relief, to find an agent so easy to work alongside. This business demands a fair amount of compatibility and trust between agent and author, and this is something for which I am also grateful.

As always, many thanks to my trusty readers, both the early ones and the more recent – respect to all: Emma Haughton, Michelle Flood, Katerina Diamond, David Evans, Jan Beresford, Sarah Ward, Daniel Culver, and Laura Wilkinson.

I’d also like to say thank you to Arzu Tahsin, who very early on gave me advice regarding this story that really did shape how it was formed.

I owe huge thanks regarding research to Paul Bacon, mental health tribunal judge and solicitor, who was, as always, so generous with his advice and input. Thanks also to Judy Evans, a long-serving midwife; Dr Sue Chorley, a friend and GP; and the wonderful Essie Fox – all of whom have been so giving of their time when I asked (sometimes silly) questions. All faults in the novel lie at my door.

Love and gratitude to all of my mates, a small circle but perfectly formed: Tracey Dolan, Tigger Wilson, Andrew Johnson, Nicola Corrigan, Kam Chahal, Sarah Connelly, Farida Soto,