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My Oxford Year
Julia Whelan
She could never have guessed what the year would hold…Gazing up at the dreaming spires of Oxford, American student Ella Duran can’t believe it: she has finally arrived at Oxford University.A new life starts, and not even Ella’s handsome lecturer Jamie Davenport can distract her from her classes. But, as the term goes on, Ella can’t deny the growing attraction between them – an attraction that soon turns to love.And when Ella learns of Jamie’s life-changing secret, their relationship becomes deeper than Ella could have ever anticipated.As Ella’s Oxford year draws to a close, she must decide whether the dreams she arrived with are the same ones with which she will leave…
Copyright (#ulink_2095586c-a1fd-5caf-8f64-8c7ac6bd3de6)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Julia Whelan 2018
Cover design and illustration by Nathan Burton © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Julia Whelan 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: 9780008278717
Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780008278724
Version: 2018-06-13
Praise for MY OXFORD YEAR (#ulink_06a4bd63-df39-548d-a7b9-24ede3b922be)
“My Oxford Year is a pure delight with unpredictable depths. Julia Whelan has crafted a story that is as fun and charming as it is powerful and wise. Ella Durran is a breath of fresh air and her story will stay with you long after you’re done.”
—Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
“Full of humor and romance, My Oxford Year has it all—I loved it!”
—Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author
“My Oxford Year is a funny, tender, heartbreaking coming-of-age adventure.”
—Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author
“My Oxford Year is an achingly beautiful debut.”
—Robinne Lee, author of The Idea of You
“Vivid, smart, and utterly charming, My Oxford Year is a heartfelt journey.”
—Allie Larkin, author of Why Can’t I Be You
Contents
Cover (#u7a626339-fce3-5469-9655-19cc56043667)
Title Page (#uba44f7be-8a2e-5317-8fe3-ffa510690c13)
Copyright (#u36e2e0df-49f9-5658-9c06-b40e8fac7e79)
Praise for My Oxford Year (#u605cebd3-19c6-5d62-94d8-7fe60db17e93)
Dedication
Epigraph (#u46aa745d-93f2-5235-85aa-668c86e6d8c0)
Chapter 1 (#ua58f9e91-68fc-5d31-820c-1990dff25557)
Chapter 2 (#u20120624-fb74-5cc9-bb82-1fe2cd0291b9)
Chapter 3 (#u05829d62-69e9-505f-a9d8-9f03849f1525)
Chapter 4 (#ueeab4f1d-1683-5dee-ba61-1aaf520173cb)
Chapter 5 (#ud738ff61-1097-59c3-8f5e-8e496043e245)
Chapter 6 (#u383130ce-7fbb-5b47-a0b9-16070605ad77)
Chapter 7 (#u14232fc3-77e7-51e5-a492-5a58789540f4)
Chapter 8 (#ucb8cdd80-37be-56fc-b40f-b371a81f2b82)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Afterword (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
Behind the Book Essay (#litres_trial_promo)
Reading Group Guide (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#uf30af038-98fd-54c5-8bca-d0b6c62f0378)
To those we have lost.Particularly fathers.Particularly mine.
Epigraph (#ulink_06a4bd63-df39-548d-a7b9-24ede3b922be)
I envy you going to Oxford: it is the most flower-like time of one’s life. One sees the shadow of things in silver mirrors. Later on, one sees the Gorgon’s head, and one suffers, because it does not turn one to stone.
Oscar Wilde, letter to Louis Wilkinson,
December 28, 1898
CHAPTER 1 (#ulink_49372cb4-0b29-5ac4-b591-d1fb9cf8ddb7)
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England—now!
Robert Browning, “Home-Thoughts, from Abroad,” 1845
Next!”
The customs agent beckons the person in front of me and I approach the big red line, absently toeing the curling tape, resting my hand on the gleaming pipe railing. No adjustable ropes at Heathrow, apparently; these lines must always be long if they require permanent demarcation.
My phone, which I’ve been tapping against my leg, rings. I glance at the screen. I don’t know the number.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Is this Eleanor Durran?”
“Yes?”
“This is Gavin Brookdale.”
My first thought is that this is a prank call. Gavin Brookdale just stepped down as White House chief of staff. He’s run every major political campaign of the last twenty years. He’s a legend. He’s my idol. He’s calling me?
“Hello?”
“Sorry, I—I’m here,” I stammer. “I’m just—”
“Have you heard of Janet Wilkes?”
Have I heard of—Janet Wilkes is the junior senator from Florida and a dark-horse candidate for president. She’s forty-five, lost her husband twelve years ago in Afghanistan, raised three kids on a teacher’s salary while somehow putting herself through law school, and then ran the most impressive grassroots senatorial campaign I’ve ever seen. She also has the hottest human-rights-attorney boyfriend I’ve ever seen, but that’s beside the point. She’s a Gold Star Wife who’s a progressive firebrand on social issues. We’ve never seen anyone like her on the national stage before. The first debate isn’t for another two weeks, on October 13, but voters seem to love her: she’s polling third in a field of twelve. Candidate Number Two is not long for the race; a Case of the Jilted Mistress(es). Number One, however, happens to be the current vice president, George Hillerson, whom Gavin Brookdale (if the Washington gossip mill is accurate) loathes. Still, even the notoriously mercurial Brookdale wouldn’t back a losing horse like Wilkes just to spite the presumptive nominee. If nothing else, Gavin Brookdale likes to win. “Of course I’ve heard of her.”
“She read your piece in The Atlantic. We both did. ‘The Art of Education and the Death of the Thinking American Electorate.’ We were impressed.”
“Thank you,” I say, gushing. “It was something I felt was missing from the discourse—”
“What you wrote was philosophy. It wasn’t policy.”
This brings me up short. “I understand why you’d think that, but I—”
“Don’t worry, I know you have the policy chops. I know you won Ohio for Janey Bennett. The 138th for Carl Moseley. You’re a talented young lady, Eleanor.”
“Mr. Brookdale—”
“Call me Gavin.”
