The Bird Woman
A Novel
Chapter One
SEPTEMBER 1988
The first time ever I saw Liam he was standing at the bar of
Hartley's in Belfast. I was married to Robbie then-I'd been
married to Robbie for near on four years for all I was only twenty-three. I was
married and that was that; I'd no more thought of going off with anyone
else than of dandering down to the travel agents and booking myself a nice wee
holiday on the moon.
I was to meet Robbie around eight, along with a bunch of his drinking
friends that he'd known from way back. I walked in, and the minute I saw
Robbie I knew from the cut of him that he hadn't just strolled through
the door. Stan and Rita were there, they were sitting at a table along with a
couple more of our crowd, plus a black-haired girl with a widow's peak
whom I'd never laid eyes on before. She was wearing jeans and a sweater,
and she hadn't a scrap of makeup on her, though it was Friday night and
there wasn't another woman in the place without heels and lipstick and
mascara. She wasn't talking to anyone, and no one was talking to her.
Robbie was up at the bar ... read full excerpt from: The Bird Woman: A Novel ebook
