Learning to Talk: Short stories

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Learning to Talk: Short stories
Hilary Mantel

A companion piece to the captivating memoir GIVING UP THE GHOST by the Man Booker-winning author, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.This sharp, funny collection of stories drawn from life begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out.In 'King Billy is a Gentleman', the child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage. 'Curved Is the Line of Beauty' is a story of friendship, faith and a near-disaster in a scrap-yard. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In 'Third Floor Rising', she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity.With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.

Learning to Talk

Short Stories

Hilary Mantel

Copyright (#ulink_a81d0460-f616-59f7-970f-80f984f33610)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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London SE1 9GF

www.4thestate.co.uk (http://www.4thestate.co.uk)

First published by Fourth Estate in 2003

Copyright © Hilary Mantel 2003

‘King Billy Is a Gentleman’ first appeared in New Writing 1992, Minerva in association with the British Council, 1992; ‘Destroyed’ first appeared in Granta (63), 1998; ‘Curved Is the Line of Beauty’ first appeared in TLS (No. 5157), 2002; ‘Learning to Talk’ first appeared in London Magazine, 1987; ‘Third Floor Rising’ first appeared in The Times Magazine, 2000; ‘The Clean Slate’ first appeared in Woman & Home, 2001

Hilary Mantel asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007166442

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007354887

Version: 2015-04-15

Dedication (#ulink_265ac0a2-f4be-5441-8c68-d58b2533da66)

Once again with love

to Anne Terese:

and her daughter:

and her daughter.

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u56bd386f-2f7b-5fe6-b528-ec8f65c103fe)

Title Page (#u42a552f6-451b-541b-ad3f-8501cfbeb25c)

Copyright (#ua34cc8ae-e636-583d-9fc1-cfb2d6889497)

Dedication (#u8810ef12-71a6-5e52-9caf-ef4db1ca4c05)

King Billy Is a Gentleman (#u7d51933a-7ef9-5ccc-bb6b-03fe53852863)

Destroyed (#u447d9cb1-f0fa-5002-8b53-69f691fde26c)

Curved Is the Line of Beauty (#u461798fa-bd1b-55bd-8686-cd238adb656c)

Learning to Talk (#u78822394-1c65-5024-9f85-64283b949e66)

Third Floor Rising (#ud43125ad-10ac-51a3-9aef-fad24a1d72a0)

The Clean Slate (#ue1e59d81-d02c-5804-9406-e77948d484b6)

Giving Up the Ghost (#ue0cf2916-37c4-5a19-87ba-acbf33fa51fe)

Excerpt from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (#u0ee25264-d6a9-5c17-bb63-d06ec5cb7d83)

Keep Reading (#u927955ac-7079-5f48-8ff8-993fe2a87c77)

About the Author (#u7806a476-412e-5753-aad9-679163cee272)

Praise (#u9bc773bf-943a-560a-8eb0-eb00d7868d3a)

Also by the Author (#u83d8ad84-781e-5a5b-923f-2e8151bf6047)

About the Publisher (#ub6ca2ad8-545b-5d34-a53f-3ab12125347a)