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Writers’ & Artists’
YEARBOOK
2020
Other Writers & Artists titles include

Writers’ & Artists’ Companions

Series Editors: Carole Angier and Sally Cline
Each title is full of expert advice and tips from
bestselling authors.
Crime and Thriller Writing by Michelle Spring and
Laurie R. King
Life Writing by Sally Cline and Carole Angier
Literary Non-fiction by Sally Cline and Midge
Gillies
Writing Children’s Fiction by Yvonne Coppard and
Linda Newbery
Writing Historical Fiction by Celia Brayfield and
Duncan Sprott
Writing Short Stories by Courttia Newland and
Tania Hershman
Novel Writing by Romesh Gunesekera and A.L.
Kennedy
Playwriting by Fraser Grace and Clare Bayley
Writing for TV and Radio by Sue Teddern and
Nick Warburton

NEW in July 2019

Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2020
‘To find your way as a children’s author, CWAYB
should be your first port of call.’ Sarah Crossan

NEW in October 2019

Writers’ & Artists’ Guide to Writing for
Children and YA by Linda Strachan
Writers’ & Artists’ Guide to Getting Published
by Alysoun Owen

You can buy copies from your local bookseller or

online at
www.writersandartists.co.uk/shop

Special offer
Visit www.writersandartists.co.uk before 30 June 2020 and enter the
promotional code WAYB20 to receive an exclusive 10% discount on our
editorial services.
 This edition of the Yearbook is dedicated to the memory of
renowned editor and author Diana Athill.

Diana died in January 2019 aged 101; her article About editing and
writing starts here.
 Writers’ & Artists’
YEARBOOK
2020
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH EDITION

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MEDIA AND PUBLISHING

INDUSTRIES
The perfect companion for writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets,
playwrights, journalists, and commercial artists
 Contents
A note from the Editor
More than a book
Foreword – Samantha Shannon

Newspapers and magazines

Getting started
Writing for online and print – Suzanne Elliott
Life’s a pitch: how to get your ideas into print – Mike Unwin

Listings
National newspapers UK and Ireland
Regional newspapers UK and Ireland
Magazines UK and Ireland
Syndicates, news and press agencies

Books
The publishing process
How to get published
Crowdfunding your novel – Alice Jolly
What do publishers do? – Bill Swainson
Debut success with an indie publisher – Wyl Menmuir
On mentoring – Jill Dawson
Understanding publishing agreements – Gillian Haggart Davies
News, views and trends: review of the publishing year – Tom Tivnan
Defining genre fiction – Maxim Jakubowski
Electronic publishing – Philip Jones
ISBNs: what you need to know
Who’s who in publishing
Print on demand – David Taylor
Public Lending Right
The mathematics of publishing – Scott Pack

Listings
Book publishers UK and Ireland
Book publishers overseas
Audio publishers
Book packagers
Book clubs

Inspiring writers
First chapters: how to grab your reader’s attention – Emma Flint
Managing a successful writing career – Tony Bradman
The path to a bestseller – Clare Mackintosh
Advice to a new writer – Rachel Joyce
Writing short stories – Tania Hershman
The ‘how to’ of writing how-to books – Kate Harrison
Finding my agent – Martina Cole
Changing voices – Alexander McCall Smith
Notes from a successful crossover author – Neil Gaiman
Notes from a successful children’s author – J.K. Rowling
About editing and writing – Diana Athill

Writing advice
Becoming a comic writer – Marina Lewycka
Changing lanes: writing across genres and forms – Mark Illis
Turning to crime: writing thrillers – Kimberley Chambers
Writing character-led novels – Kerry Hudson
Writing romantic fiction – Raffaella Barker
Ever wanted to write a saga? – Di Redmond
Writing speculative fiction – Claire North
Writing (spy) fiction – Mick Herron
Breaking into comics – Antony Johnston
Then and now: becoming a science fiction and fantasy writer –
Aliette de Bodard
Writing historical fiction: lessons learned – Tim Pears
Writing popular history books – Tom Holland
Blurring facts with fiction: memoir and biography – Nell Stevens
Ghostwriting – Gillian Stern
Making facts your mission: the pleasure of writing non-fiction – Jane
Robinson
Writing about science for the general reader – Suzanne O’Sullivan
Literary translation – Danny Hahn
So you want to write about nature ... – Melissa Harrison
Being a travel writer – Sara Wheeler
Writing a cookbook – Ruby Tandoh
Writing for the health and wellness market – Anita Bean
Writing sports books – Frances Jessop

Poetry
Becoming a published poet – Julia Copus
How to become a poet – Andrew McMillan
Notes from a passionate poet – Benjamin Zephaniah
Getting your poetry out there – Neil Astley

Listings
Poetry organisations

Screen and audio

Notes from a successful soap scriptwriter – Mary Cutler
Successful screenwriting – Anna Symon
Stories on radio – Di Speirs
Should I make an audiobook? – James Peak
Writing for videogames: a guide for the curious – Chris Bateman

Listings
Television and radio
Theatre
Bringing new life to classic plays – Mike Poulton
Writing for the theatre – David Eldridge
Writing about theatre: reviews, interviews and more – Mark Fisher

Listings
Theatre producers

Literary agencies
Putting together your submission – Hellie Ogden
Are you ready to submit? – Ed Wilson
How to submit a non-fiction proposal – Andrew Lownie
Getting hooked out of the slush pile – Madeleine Milburn
A day in the life of a literary agent – Charlotte Seymour
How to choose your agent – Jo Unwin

Listings
Literary agents UK and Ireland
Literary agents overseas

Art and illustration

Freelancing for beginners – Fig Taylor
How to get ahead in cartooning – Martin Rowson
How to make a living: money matters – Alison Branagan
Selling yourself and your work online – Fig Taylor
The freelance photographer – Ian Thraves

Listings
Art agents and commercial art studios
Card and stationery publishers that accept illustrations and
photographs

Societies, prizes and festivals

Developing talent: support and opportunities for writers – Helen
Chaloner
Society of Authors
WGGB (Writers’ Guild of Great Britain)
Alliance of Independent Authors

Listings
Societies, associations and clubs
Prizes and awards
Festivals and conferences for writers, artists and readers

Self-publishing
Self-publishing online: the emerging template for sales success –
Harry Bingham
Going solo: self-publishing in the digital age – Dean Crawford
Getting your book stocked in a high-street bookshop – Sheila O’Reilly
The dos and don’ts of self-publishing – Alison Baverstock
What do self-publishing providers offer? – Jeremy Thompson
How self-publishing started my publishing journey – Mel Sherratt
Notes from a hybrid author – Nick Spalding
Making waves online – Simon Appleby

Listings
Book sites, blogs and podcasts
Editorial services and self-publishing providers

Resources for writers

Glossary of publishing terms
Software for writers
Editing your work
Indexing – Society of Indexers

Listings
Libraries
Writers’ retreats and creative writing courses

Law and copyright

Copyright questions – Gillian Haggart Davies
UK copyright law and publishing rights – Lynette Owen
Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd
Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society
DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society)
Publishers’ Licensing Services

Finance for writers and artists

FAQs for writers – Peter Vaines
Income tax – Peter Vaines
National Insurance contributions and social security benefits – Peter
Arrowsmith and Sarah Bradford

Indexes
Subject indexes
General index
Listings index
 A note from the Editor
The Editor welcomes readers to this edition of the
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook

Welcome to this new, expanded edition of the

Yearbook. Distributed throughout its pages are
listings with details of who to contact across the
publishing and wider media industries. These are the
individuals and organisations that might just help in
your quest to get your work into print, or ebook, or
audiobook. We include updated information on
literary agents and book publishers, as well as the
plethora of prizes, festivals and courses that you can
enter, attend and take to increase your chances of
being noticed.
The two most effective ways to boost your luck in
getting your feet on the rungs of the publishing
ladder are to read and to write. And to do lots of
both. Write anything and everything. Practise in
order to improve your writing, find your ‘voice’ and,
in time, your readers. The authors and publishing
practitioners who dole out advice in the more than
80 articles in this bulging red book are perfect
examples of writers who have done just that.
Collectively, they provide hands-on expertise across a
wide range of genres, formats, and routes to market.
This is perfectly exemplified in the new article by
Mark Illis here – Changing lanes: writing across
genres and forms. Genres are demystified in Maxim
Jakubowski’s Defining genre fiction here. Knowing
how to tackle new forms is something prolific writer
Antony Johnston knows a thing or two about; his
Breaking into comics is here.
This year, we have also added new articles by
novelists Tim Pears (Writing historical fiction: lessons
learned; see here), Raffaella Barker (Writing
romantic fiction, here) and Di Redmond (Ever wanted
to write a saga?, here). Kerry Hudson explains her
approach to her fiction in Writing character-led
novels here and Nell Stevens explores the permeable
boundaries between forms in her Blurring facts with
fiction: memoir and biography here. Weaving factual
elements into her novels is something Melissa
Harrison does too – see So you want to write about
nature ... here. Making technical content accessible is
what Suzanne O’Sullivan does brilliantly: see her
article Writing about science for the general reader
here.
If you want to keep up to date with the latest ups
and downs and trends in the publishing industry,
take a look at the annually updated articles by the
Bookseller’s Tom Tivnan (New, views and trends:
review of the publishing year, here) and Philip Jones
( Electronic publishing, here). In the Screen and
audio section are two new pieces to inspire the
budding writer for screen: Successful screenwriting
by Anna Symon is here and Writing for videogames:
a guide for the curious by Chris Bateman is here. If
you need help with your writing, then Jill Dawson’s
On mentoring (here) will give plenty of support. If
you think you are ready to submit to an agent, you
might want to double-check by reading Ed Wilson’s
Are you ready to submit? here and Charlotte
Seymour’s A day in the life of a literary agent here.
Or, if you would rather follow the DIY route, then let
Dean Crawford be your guide – Going solo: self-
publishing in the digital age is here.
Whatever your intended market or subject or
format, I hope that the advice and information in this
Yearbook sets you off in the right direction and
provides the inspiration you need to fulfil your writing
ambitions.
Alysoun Owen
Editor
All articles, listings and other material in this
yearbook are reviewed and updated every year in
consultation with the bodies, organisations,
companies and individuals that we select for
inclusion. To the best of our knowledge the websites,
emails and other contact details are correct at the
time of going to press.
 More than a book
The Writers & Artists website
(www.writersandartists.co.uk) provides up-to-the-
minute writing advice, blogs, competitions and the
chance to share work with other writers. You can
sign up to our regular newsletter; browse our
Writing Calendar; and learn about the editorial
services we offer. We also run courses,
workshops and other events, including How to
Hook an Agent lunches and one-day How to Get
Published conferences around the country.
Our listings service can be accessed at
www.writersandartists.co.uk/listings. In addition to
all the contacts in this edition of the Yearbook,
subscribers are able to search hundreds of additional
organisations and companies.
Whatever your needs, we hope that Writers &
Artists resources, whether delivered in print, online
or at our events, will provide you with the
information, advice and inspiration you are looking
for.

Short story competition

The annual Writers’ &Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition offers published
and aspiring writers the chance to win a place on an Arvon residential writing
course (worth £1,000). In addition, the winner’s story will be published on the
Writers & Artists website.
To enter the competition, submit a short story (for adults) of no more than
2,000 words, on any theme by 13 February 2020 to
competition@bloomsbury.com. For full details, terms and conditions, and to find
out more about how to submit your entry, visit
www.writersandartists.co.uk/competitions.
You might like to read Writing short stories here of this Yearbook.
runs creative writing courses and retreats from three writing houses in the
UK, each in a beautiful rural location. Published writers lead week-long or short
residential courses. Covering a diverse range of genres, from poetry and fiction
to screenwriting and non-fiction, Arvon courses have provided inspiration to
thousands of people at all stages of their writing lives. You can find out more and
book a course online at www.arvon.org.
 Praise for the Yearbook

the book which magically contains all other books ...

an entrance ticket to the world you long for.’
Fay Weldon
‘So much the budding writer needs.’
Martina Cole
‘Read this book very carefully. Treasure it.’
Rachel Joyce
‘ ... buy a copy of the current Writers’ & Artists’
Yearbook and get yourself out there.’
Donal Ryan
‘Full of useful stuff.’
J.K. Rowling
‘Everything you need to know about the business of
being a writer.’
Lawrence Norfolk
‘When you’re looking to get published, it’s your Bible.’
The Association of Illustrators
‘Every writer can remember her first copy of the
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.’
Rose Tremain
 ‘The wealth of information ... is staggering.
The Times
‘I went out and bought myself a copy of the Writers’
& Artists’ Yearbook ... and talked to editors about
ideas for stories. Pretty soon I found myself hired to
do interviews and articles.’
Neil Gaiman
‘The one-and-only, indispensable guide to the world
of writing.’
William Boyd
 Foreword
Samantha Shannon

Some years ago, I wrote my first story. I believe I

was seven or eight years old. From what little I
remember of it, it was about a princess who
inherited the moon. The reason I know nothing else
about this piece of my juvenilia is that I only printed
one copy, and I sent that copy to a publishing house
(don’t do this). I used spotless paper and double-
checked that the ink had dried. I stapled the pages
together, sealed them in an envelope, and penned
the address in my very best handwriting. My
grandmother walked me down the street to the
postbox and, together, we sent my little story to the
only publisher I could recall off the top of my head.
For a long time, I forgot about that story. I have no
proof that it existed; it survives as a cobweb in the
corner of my memory. Still – for a short time – it was
out in the world. I imagine someone heaved a sigh
when it arrived as it did, bereft of an agent to
represent it or a synopsis to describe it. Perhaps a
kind-hearted editor would have sent me a reply, had
they known I was a child with a vivid imagination
and no idea how publishing worked – but they would
have hit a dead end if they’d tried. I had sent no
letter to introduce myself, nor included a self-
addressed envelope. I’m not confident I even
thought to include my name on the cover.
Perhaps it was because I never got an answer that
in my young mind a silence grew around publishing.
My impression of it was all shadow and clockwork.
Perhaps machines created books. Perhaps they grew
on trees. Either way, it was clear that little girls like
me had no place in the process. I continued to write
stories, but I set aside the notion that anyone would
ever find them in a bookshop. The author became an
abstract concept. I glossed over the names on my
favourite books, for they belonged to ethereal beings
whose lives were worlds away from mine.
Then a media storm around a certain author
brought her name to my attention. People weren’t
just talking about a book but about its creator –
about her life, her dreams, and how she had
conjured a universe in a café and on trains. There
was fierce interest in her personal story. She was
telling marvellous tales, but she was not a clockwork
toy, not a shadow. Reading about her reminded me
of what I must have always known – that people
wrote books. Real people. From then on, I plunged
back in to writing ferociously, with a luminous dream:
I was going to be an author.
When I was 15, I started a full-length novel. Once it
was finished, I decided to try to get it published but
found myself with as little knowledge of publishing as
I’d possessed when I was a child. All I had gained
was a suspicion that there were many more pieces in
the jigsaw than one author and one story, and I had
no sense of how to fit those pieces together. I turned
to the internet, where I found a local freelance editor
and paid her all of my saved-up pocket money to
look at a few chapters. Countless websites sang to
me, promising me they could publish my book if I
paid them far more money than I had ever had. I
had only a tenuous understanding of what an agent
was. In short, I was overwhelmed.
When I found the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook it was
like striking a match in the dark. After someone
mentioned it to me in passing, I got my hands on a
copy straight away. With every page I turned, I
understood more about the trade that had
flummoxed me since I was a child. Soon I was armed
with the knowledge I needed to begin my journey.
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook does not come with a
guarantee of publication. There is no formula to
publishing, no code to crack, no single ‘right answer’
that will launch your book onto the shelves. I don’t
think I’ve ever heard exactly the same publication
story twice. All writers are wayfarers, and there are
many paths we travel on ... some longer than others.
That novel I wrote when I was 15 never saw the
light of day. Even though I followed agency
guidelines, even though I used the right font and the
right line spacing – it was not to be.
You might have a book like that. You might have
several. Trying to get someone to see them can
sometimes feel like knocking on a door that never
opens. But, if there’s one thing I can tell you from
the other side, it’s that each minute you spend
writing is worthwhile. Every story whets your craft.
Every story hones your ability see a tale through to
its end. I would not have written my debut novel,
The Bone Season (Bloomsbury 2013), without having
first written the one I had to put away.
I got my book deal when I was 20. I’ve now been in
the industry for seven years and have three
bestsellers under my belt – yet there are still things
I’m only just learning, things that take me by
surprise. As with any vocation, getting to grips with
being a writer is a lifelong process. But, by opening
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, you’ve taken your first
step. This is your toolbox, your skeleton key, and the
torch that will illuminate every dark corner of
publishing. I wish you all the luck in the world.
Samantha Shannon is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author
of The Bone Season series: The Bone Season (2013), The Mime Order (2015) and
The Song Rising (2017). It is a seven-book series for Bloomsbury Publishing. Her
other books, also published by Bloomsbury, include On the Merits of Unnaturalness
(2016) and The Pale Dreamer (2016). Her fourth and most recent novel is The
Priory of the Orange Tree (2019). Samantha’s work has been translated into 26
languages. She is a graduate of St Anne’s College, Oxford, and lives in London.
 Newspapers and magazines
Getting started
Of the titles included in the newspapers and
magazines section of this Yearbook, almost all offer
opportunities to the writer. Many publications do not
appear in the lists because the market they offer for
the freelance writer is either too small or too
specialised, or both. To help writers get started, we
offer some guidelines for consideration before
submitting material.

Study the market

• The importance of studying the market cannot be
over emphasised. It is an editor’s job to know what
readers want, and to see that they get it. Thus,
freelance contributions must be tailored to fit a
specific market; subject, theme, treatment, length,
etc must meet the editor’s requirements.
• Magazine editors complain about the unsuitability
of many submissions, so before sending an article or
feature, always carefully study the editorial
requirements of the magazine – not only for the
subjects dealt with but for the approach, treatment,
style and length. These comments will be obvious to
the practised writer but the beginner can be spared
much disappointment by consulting copies of
magazines and studying their target market in depth.
• For additional information on markets, see the UK
& Ireland volume of Willings Press Guide, which is
usually available at local reference libraries and also
online (www.cision.co.uk/resources/white-
papers/willings).
Check with the editor first
• Before submitting material to any newspaper or
magazine it is advisable to first contact the relevant
editor. The listings beginning here give the names of
editors for each section of the national newspapers.
A quick telephone call or email to a magazine will
establish the name of the relevant commissioning
editor.
• Most newspapers and magazines expect copy to be
sent by email.
• It is not advisable to send illustrations ‘on spec’;
check with the editor first. For a list of publications
that accept cartoons see here.
Explore the overseas market
• For newspapers and magazines outside the UK,
visit www.writersandartists.co.uk/listings. For fuller
listings, refer to the Willings Press Guide Volume for
World News Media.
• Some overseas magazine titles have little space for
freelance contributions but many of them will
consider outstanding work.
• It is worth considering using an agent to syndicate
material written for the overseas market. Most
agents operate on an international basis and are
more aware of current market requirements. Listings
for Syndicates, news and press agencies start here.
Understand how newspapers and syndicates
work
• The larger newspapers and magazines buy many
of their stories, and the smaller papers buy general
articles, through well-known syndicates. Another
avenue for writers is to send printed copies of their
stories published at home to an agent for syndication
overseas.
• For the supply of news, most of the larger UK and
overseas newspapers depend on their own staff and
press agencies. The most important overseas
newspapers have permanent representatives in the
UK who keep them supplied, not only with news of
special interest to the country concerned, but also
with regular summaries of British news and with
articles on events of particular importance. While
many overseas newspapers and magazines have a
London office, it is usual for freelance contributions
to be submitted to the headquarters’ editorial office
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Madeleine est morte, toute blanche, contre l’oreiller, plus belle,
plus divinement belle que jamais. Une main hostile, osseuse me
serre le cœur et, dans ce cœur, le sang s’arrête.
Morte… mais elle est restée les yeux grands ouverts. L’ami qui a
recueilli son dernier soupir a voulu me laisser son dernier regard, à
moi qui l’aimais.
Je m’agenouille auprès d’elle.
« Madeleine, tu étais toute ma vie, le meilleur de mon âme, le
parfum de ma pensée ! Ta chevelure semblait faite d’un reflet de
soleil sur un beau vase d’or.
« Viens, Madeleine, mon épouse chérie : ne reste pas couchée
dans notre chambre ! Des gens voudront s’approcher de toi, te
coucher au fond d’un cercueil, le poser sur un corbillard, pour enfin
t’emporter !
« Laisse-moi t’emporter moi-même, dans mes bras. Je te
chercherai la plus belle sépulture, la plus douce à ton beau corps.
Nous la choisirons ensemble… Le veux-tu, mon amour ? »
Et Madeleine, afin de me dire que son désir était le mien, ferma
doucement ses yeux gris d’ardoise et m’offrit ses lèvres,
entr’ouvertes par un souffle que je sus recueillir, un souffle embaumé
de bonheur.

Alors je l’enlaçai, sûrement, avec vigueur, avec confiance, et

nous partîmes, aspirés au dehors par le vent d’une ardente et tendre
musique, dont les arpèges nous aidaient en notre envol, nous
entraînaient suivant le rythme de l’air et nous ravissaient vers
d’autres cieux.
J’avais pressenti sa secrète pensée : nous allions, tous deux, là-
bas, vers sa Provence aimée. C’était là-bas qu’elle voulait
sommeiller pour toujours.
Ah ! que ne pouvait-elle entendre ce que les beaux oiseaux
chantaient, quand nous passions, ni respirer les fleurs aériennes qui
lui présentaient leurs parfums, ni voir les magnifiques jeux de
lumière dont le soleil, en son honneur, se plaisait à orner la nuée
rose et grise qui nous soutenait ! Enfin, perçus de très haut, ce furent
les flots de la mer, les vagues, les roches rouges, l’écume et les
reflets de la Méditerranée, si chère à Madeleine, et nous fûmes
posés, l’un et l’autre, dans un beau jardin que, l’un et l’autre, nous
connaissions.
Où lui choisir, dans ce jardin, le lieu de son repos ? J’errais, la
portant toujours et ne sachant me décider, quand j’aperçus, à
quelques pas, trois hommes appuyés sur des bêches et qui me
faisaient signe.
« Ici, me dirent-ils d’une même voix sereine, d’une voix de
légende qui vivrait encore ; ici, Madeleine dormira son dernier
sommeil en béatitude et en paix. Nous avons creusé nous-mêmes
sa tombe non loin de son église, et la terre qui la couvrira lui sera
légère comme un duvet : nous vous le promettons tous les trois. »
Chacun des trois vint baiser pieusement la main de Madeleine et
chacun, ayant baisé la noble main, si fine, si longue, si belle en son
geste immobilisé, offrit à Madeleine un présent.
Melchior lui offrit une médaille en électron qui portait à son avers
le profil de Vénus et à son revers une branche de laurier.
Balthazar lui offrit une toile d’araignée en or, par où filtrait un peu
de clair de lune.
Gaspard lui offrit un oiseau bleu d’azur qui se percha sur mon
épaule et se mit à chanter pour Madeleine un chant que les mortes
peuvent entendre et dont le son leur rappelle toujours la voix de
l’homme qu’elles ont aimé…
Après quoi, les trois Mages me la prirent des bras et, doucement,
comme ils eussent mis un enfant au berceau, la déposèrent dans sa
tombe.
Puis les rois mages appelèrent, en notes claires, une brise qu’ils
avaient conviée et la brise couvrit d’une poudre impalpable, en
pollen de mimosas, le corps de ma bien-aimée, puis ne cessa de
souffler de l’or que la fosse n’eût été comblée.
 Alors la brise et les trois rois s’en furent, afin de me laisser
pleurer.
 XXVII

Je me réveille, paraît-il, les yeux pleins de larmes. Si Mlle

Blancheney, ma garde, savait ce que je viens de rêver, elle s’en
étonnerait moins. Elle revient quelques instants plus tard et
m’annonce une visite.
On pourrait bien me laisser tranquille ! Mon rêve de cette nuit
n’était que la transposition de l’angoisse qui me crevait le cœur.
Ah ! pleurer tout seul ! me souvenir d’elle et sentir, sans témoins,
la torture que sa perte me vaut ! une torture qui ne fera
qu’augmenter, s’amplifier, s’étendre… se creuser aussi ! J’avais
perdu la mémoire ; elle me revient et chaque souvenir nouveau sera
plus cruel que le précédent…
Tâchons de réagir. Je recevrai l’intrus s’il ne prolonge pas trop
ses condoléances…
Pleurer tout seul !
« Faites entrer, Mademoiselle, mais dites d’abord que je souffre
d’une forte migraine.
— Oui, Monsieur. »
La porte s’ouvre. J’entends une voix d’homme.
« Qu’il ait encore très mal à la tête, c’est tout naturel,
Mademoiselle Blancheney. »
 Le voici : un homme de haute taille, très corpulent, très solide. Il
parle tout de suite :
« Cher vieux Michel ! enfin la convalescence et, bientôt j’espère,
nous te verrons sur tes pattes ! »
C’est Jérôme Devilliers, l’ami Jérôme. Il sait, mais il a peur de le
laisser paraître.
Je reste calme.
« Je te reconnais, Jérôme, mon ami Jérôme. Parle-moi d’elle,
d’elle seulement. Je ne suis plus malade : ne te gêne pas. Je saurai
me tenir si tu ne restes pas trop longtemps. Comment est-elle morte,
et de quoi ?
— Morte ! qui ça ?
— Oh ! de grâce, Jérôme, dispense-toi de phrases vaines !…
Madeleine a dû mourir cette nuit, n’est-ce pas ? peut-être hier ? A-t-
elle beaucoup souffert ? »
La grosse voix s’attendrit :
« Madeleine est à deux pas, dans le salon d’attente. Elle va venir
t’embrasser. J’entrais d’abord, pour m’assurer de ton état.
N’importe ! au diable les précautions !
— Madeleine est…
— Elle est même derrière la porte, cette porte-ci… Madeleine !
votre mari désire vous voir ! »
Et le grand rêve aérien qui m’enveloppait encore se déchire.

Madeleine est ici, près de moi, Madeleine en personne,

Madeleine toute entière !
« Ah ! Michel, mon chéri ! »
Les mêmes yeux gris, le même front couronné d’or, les mêmes
mains de princesse, la même voix qui m’enchante, les mêmes
lèvres… Merci, mon Dieu ! les mêmes lèvres sur les miennes !
« Madeleine, tu m’es revenue !
 — Mon amour, je ne t’ai jamais quitté ! pas un jour ! Je rôdais
autour de toi, mais il ne fallait pas que l’on me vît : tu délirais tout
aussitôt ! Non, ne parle pas : je t’expliquerai. Tu délirais, mon chéri,
tu me disais des horreurs ! Tu détestais aussi Jérôme qui te soignait
depuis le lendemain de l’accident.
— Misérable ! en as-tu déblatéré des infamies ! » dit la grosse
voix tâchant de s’adoucir.
Attention ! ce sont les méchants enfants qui pleurent, et les
désespérés. Écoutons !
« Michel, mon amour ! tu m’aimes encore ? comme avant ?
comme toujours ?…
— Oh ! tais-toi, Madeleine !
— Et mon fils, reprit Jérôme, l’avais-tu assez pris en grippe, à
cause de son nez pointu ! Il est vrai qu’il te présentait un visage
inconnu… et cependant, une nuit, tu as parlé de sa photographie !
— Jérôme, tu lui diras pardon de ma part… Madeleine, laisse-
moi mieux te voir, mieux t’admirer !
— Allons ! dit Jérôme, je n’ai plus rien à faire ici ! Je reviendrai,
plus tard, dans la journée.
— Cette attente, Michel ! Savoir qu’une seule rue nous séparait !
Souvent, je craignais de m’être trop approchée de la fenêtre. Jérôme
me donnait constamment des nouvelles, mais je ne pouvais même
plus passer mon temps dans la chambre d’à côté : il semblait que
cela t’agitait davantage, que je fusse proche de toi, mais je passais
toutes mes nuits dans cette chambre.
— Madeleine, je te croyais partie pour jamais !
— Michel, je suis auprès de toi. Donne ta douce main !
— Madeleine, je t’ai vue morte ! je t’ai vue mise au tombeau !
— Michel, je suis là, bien vivante, et toi, toi, mon cher amour, tu
es guéri !
ACHEVÉ D’IMPRIMER LE
28 AVRIL 1928 PAR
L’IMPRIMERIE FLOCH,
A MAYENNE (FRANCE).
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK L'ABSENCE ET
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