Lodgers

Sue Simpson

Description

Lynsey Logan, a London-based novelist, usually keeps the plots of her novels a secret. One evening, her best friend, Emma Carmichael, comes to discuss her list of characters, who Lynsey finds most unpleasant. The worst character is a Broadway 'hoofer', a song and dance queen called Lynda Lombardi who is appearing in a Broadway show called 'Bitches on Broadway'. She has a daughter called Isabel, and a highly objectionable grandson called Peter, whose chief desire is to murder his grandmother, so he, his mum and dad could inherit her house in Beverly Hills.Lynsey is horrified to wake up the next morning to discover that all her characters have moved into her apartment in Belsize Park and declare they have come to lodge with her. Like a good hostess, Lynsey takes Isabel and Peter to the Tower of London and arranges for Lynda to tour the National Theatre in London. She also arranges for her friend, Emma, to come and meet them all one evening; Lynsey and Lynda cook up a big chilli, and after a heavy meal and too much red wine, Emma decides to stay the night.Much to Lynsey's horror, they wake up in New York, in an apartment that Lynda has rented in New York, minus clothes or papers. Emma insists on seeing the sights of New York, and she and Lynsey visit the Tenement Museum in downtown New York where they visit the famous Katz Deli. After seeing Lynda in her 'Bitches on Broadway' show, they get arrested for being mixed up in a #MeToo demonstration outside the theatre. Lynda is now keen for them to return to London. Lynda's agent arranges for Emma and Lynsey to return to Southampton on a Cunard Liner returning after an onboard literary festival if Lynsey teaches some creative writing courses during the return cruise. He also arranges for Lynsey's neighbour to use her key safe to extract her passport from her apartment and do the same in Emma's apartment. This works and the three of them return by taxi to London. Lynsey happily packs up all the clothes she has borrowed to post back to New York, then goes to bed exhausted. She is awoken the next morning by the sound of somebody moving around her apartment, is it all happening again?

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781398430907
• Langue: English

Extrait

T he L odgers
Sue Simpson
Austin Macauley Publishers
2022-11-30
The Lodgers About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Dramatis Personae Chapter One: Telling Olivia Chapter Two: The Lodgers Move In Chapter Three: Introducing Olivia to the Lodgers Chapter Four: A Trip to the Tower of London Chapter Five: Vice Versa Chapter Six: The Way Home Chapter Seven: Déjà Vu
About the Author
Sue Simpson’s first love is history. Having taken her first degree in QMUL, she taught A-levels history for some 30 years, in one of Hampshire’s sixth form colleges. She left only to pursue an MA, and a PhD, in Tudor history, at Southampton University. She has always written, including the village pantomime. Although teaching creative writing has featured in both her novels, this is something she has never done. Since suffering a stroke in 2011, she has been able to concentrate more on novel writing.
Dedication
To all on table 14 in Britannia Restaurant, second sitting on Queen Mary II, summer of 2019, and to Rose Chan, our excellent waitress.
And to my friend, Lesley Webber, who suffered with every twist and turn of this story.
Copyright Information ©
Sue Simpson 2022
The right of Sue Simpson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781398430891 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398430907 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2022
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd ®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Dramatis Personae
For Gaynor, who complained there were too many characters in my first book!
Lynsey Logan…………. authoress
Olivia Carmichael……… her best friend
Ben…………………Lynsey’s downstairs neighbour and naturist
Lynda Lombardi………. American actor, originally Linda Jones from Pontypool.
Isabel……………………. Lynda’s daughter
Peter……………………. Isabel’s son, aged seven
Boris……………………. Lynda’s personal trainer
Chapter One Telling Olivia
The lodgers moved in on Thursday, so it was a good job Lynsey had done a big shop on Wednesday. Olivia was coming to hear all about Lynsey Logan’s new book; Lynsey always tried her new plots out on her friend Olivia. And this was no exception.
Usually, Lynsey subscribed to the authors’ typical mantra that the more you talk about a story the less you write down, but in many ways, Olivia was Lynsey’s sternest critic and this book was in many ways an experiment. Lynsey had never before with no idea how the book was going to end, and she felt she needed all the help she could get. She told Olivia she was just going to let the characters dictate the plot, and see where it went to.
Lynsey made a large lasagne for the two of them and was opening a nice bottle of red wine when Olivia arrived.
“Who have you got so far in your cast of characters?” asked Olivia straight away.
“I think you probably need a spare sheet of paper to write them all down,” replied Lynsey. “I’m getting confused with them all and I dreamt them up, and I don’t like them very much.