When the Heart Must Rip

Nick Will

Description

When the Heart Must Rip is a family chronicle written in six parts. At times humourous and others heartbreaking the book takes the reader by various stages from the Kent of the 1930's to The Amazon of thirty years later.A gripping opening explores sinister goings on which had occurred in part prior to the opening of the novel, laying bare deep-seated emotional damage, exposing past murder and an arrest is made. Fast forwarding to 1945 and the end of The Second World War the plot thickens as further murder takes place and a clever conspiracy is uncovered.The scene moves to the jungles of South America where a dramatic adventure stretches the emotions to their most raw and exposed. Ten years on, a routine funeral brings the family back together, inspiring a search party for a missing family member. Via a search of The Americas, in the end past secrets and the truth come to light.

Sujets

• Contemporary romance
• Thriller
• Kent
• Humour

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 11 février 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838598242
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2020 Nick Will

The moral right of the author has been asserted.


Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events 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.


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ISBN 978 1838598 242

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.


Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

Many thanks to Hilary and Peter for allowing their home to be turned upside down as the local players staged many rehearsals for Part 1 of this work, and performed it, at their lovely house in Haddiscoe.
A thank you also to the players.

Also a thank you to Sara for tolerating my absences at the Sparrows Nest cafe, by the sea, where parts of this work were written.
Contents
PART I
When the Heart Must Rip

PART II
Murder Most Complete

PART III
Checkmate

PART IV
The Pull of the Jungle

PART V
Looking for Ivy

PART VI
Dark Violet
who’s who?



Roberta
Sister to Dulcie
Sgt Green
Investigating policeman, Kent (also Gloucestershire) (also suitor to Roberta and May)
Mrs Brooks
Housekeeper to Peregrine
Joanne
Companion to May
Judkins
Private investigator, Gloucestershire
Sexton
to Peregrine’s local church
Mr Dolman
Solicitor, Canterbury
Brian
Suitor, later husband to Violet
Suzanne
Hotel manager, Paramaribo
Robbie
Suzanne’s husband and later her business partner
Dorcas
Housekeeper to Brian and Violet
Schneider
Dutch policeman, Paramaribo
Maid
to Suzanne
Police officers
Dutch Guiana
Max Chapman
Friend to Petunia, and fellow actor
Colin Finch
Proprietor, Regency Hotel
Chris Hutchinson
Marine biologist
Luuk de Jong
Pieter Schneider’s successor


PART I
WHEN THE HEART MUST RIP
(Flashback – Christmas 1933, otherwise Summer 1934)
contents
1. Flashback – The Mortification of Dulcie

Storm Clouds Gather – Christmas Eve 1933.

(This is the first scene from a short black comedy called
Meet the Sprotts which was performed at Toft Monks
Church, Norfolk in December 2016. It was re-titled
The Mortification of Dulcie for this work.)

2. A Time to Mourn?

1. The Party
2. At the Breakfast Table
3. Outside, a little later
4. Early Evening
5. At Dinner
6. And Later! (In the Dead of Night)
7. At Breakfast (When the Heart Must Rip!)
8. A Kind of Justice?
9. The Aftermath (The Last Supper)
10. In Their Rooms

Historical Notes
flashback – the mortification of dulcie
Storm Clouds Gather – Christmas Eve, 1933
Chez Peregrine. The drawing room of a substantial house in a village in East Kent.

Present: The Reverend Peregrine Sprott (retired), his wife Dulcie and eldest daughter Lavinia. Dulcie sits ram-rod straight in her chair, as is her custom. The others fawn around her, standing either side of her chair.

PEREGRINE
(to Dulcie) Well, my love, I do like this time of year. Sharing it with the family… and I’m so looking forward to seeing my brothers again after such a long time.
Dulcie grunts
LAVINIA
(who is listening out) hears something That’ll be the first ones. I’ll go and let them in!
Enter Rose
PEREGRINE
(to Rose) Rose! It’s lovely to see you! Do come in. (looking at her tiny travelling case) My goodness. You’re travelling light! And where’s Neville?
ROSE
Oh, you know! He’s away on one of his tropical expeditions, looking for specimens. I don’t know what he sees in those bugs and butterflies! (She laughs.)
DULCIE
(barking from her chair) You say he’s not coming? … Welcome, sister-in-law by marriage!
(Rose takes a seat.)
(There is a noise, and the sound of a female voice calling out.)
PEREGRINE
Oh, that sounds like Tilly!
(Lavinia lets her in. Tilly is carrying the briefest travel case.)
PEREGRINE
Tilly! How lovely to see you!
DULCIE
Now then sister-in-law by marriage, judging by the size of that case you’ve only called by to use the bathroom! … Where’s Lionel?!
TILLY
Oh! You know how busy he is with his work and things…
DULCIE
(interrupts, rather petulantly) So, he’s not coming either?!
TILLY
(continues, getting to the most important part of what she has to say) And I’ll have to get back to be with him in the morning, as it’s Christmas.
ROSE
Me too! Tilly and Lionel have asked me to stay, with Neville being away.
DULCIE
( grossly put out) Really?! And I’ve got in enough food to last a fortnight!
ROSE
(changing the subject) I see Lavinia’s here. Where are the other girls – May? June? Violet? Ivy… Petunia?
DULCIE
(breaks the flow) They’re not coming
ROSE
(keeps up the attack, with slow purposeful emphasis) And what of that son of yours whose doing fine things in Europe… Brussells Sprott… Surely you will be having HIM for Christmas dinner?!
DULCIE
(at this point boils over) He’s not coming! They’re none of them coming!
TILLY
(who suffers from being a little bit giddy, can’t help herself saying) Oh dear! I think this is going to be a terrible time!
DULCIE
(by now mortally offended, raises herself on the high chair arms and says with a stentorian cry) I AM THE ROCK OF THIS HOUSE!!!
PEREGRINE
(petting her and fussing all over her, picks up her fan and cools her with it) Of course you are, Dulcie, my dove, my love…
(This continues through Rose and Tilly’s exclamation)
ROSE AND TILLY
(as one) She is the rock of this house, and let no one forget it!

a time to mourn?
The same place, seven months later (July 1934)
SCENE 1: THE PARTY
A selection of songs from the 1920s plays. A convivial small party. The guests are attired for a summer evening, the men mainly in white jackets, the women in long smart dresses. There are loud laughing voices and the clinking of glasses.

There is a knock at the door. A young woman (Petunia) opens the door a peep and closes it. She gesticulates wildly.

PETUNIA
(in a drawn-out rasp) Shhh!! It’s that policeman!!
PEREGRINE
( admits the visitor across the threshold – just – and addresses him in a suave voice) Sergeant Green! What a surprise to see you at our sober gathering as we share memories of our dear Dulcie. How can we help you?