Authors: Tish Cohen
I
sabelle lies in the dark and claps her hands. When the light goes on, she sits up. Pulls on a robe and pads down to the kitchen to heat the kettle. As soon as it whistles she shuts the burner off and stares at the steam curling up from the spout. With a shake of her head, she climbs the stairs back to her room. She lays the robe over the foot of the bed and climbs under the covers. Honestly, she never should have let Eleanor Sweet into her life. She was managing just fine. With a loud clap, the light goes off.
“Lunacy,” she says.
Right away, she claps again. Throws off the covers this time and marches into her closet. Pulls on a v-neck sweater and houndstooth trousers. A pair of boots capable of keeping her hips from shattering as she leaves Battersea Road to traipse hither and yon through the snow.
In the kitchen, she sits at the island, her purse on her lap. Here she waits for the clock to strike nine. When it does, she stands. Makes her way to the front hall, where she pulls on a wool coat. She looks at herself in the mirror, then slips a scarf from the drawer and ties it around her neck.
It’s like a child raising a child, this Eleanor dousing her
baby girl in bubbles, wheeling her about the city in the middle of the night. She has all the sense of an aardvark. Later this morning, Isabelle will stop by the store. She owes it to that poor child to get involved.
But first, she has a stop to make.
The Sidecar Diner looks like a San Francisco trolley that was hoisted from its tracks, shipped across the country and fastened to the base of the Channing-Breyers building. Then, in an effort to make it feel less West Coast, less Golden State, it was coated in decidedly non-weather-resistant black paint, as evidenced by coiled strips of alkyd peeling off its body like bark from a dying willow.
Isabelle steps inside, removes her gloves and jacket. Her scarf she leaves on. Fortification.
This is no trendy reproduction diner. The black and dingy-white floor is greasy enough that she’s already slipped twice. The air smells of bacon, strong coffee, cigarettes being smoked out the back door, and a mop so sour Isabelle almost volunteers to head to the store to pick up a quart of bleach.
Her eyes roam the room. There, in the last booth, sits a woman with short hair and a face clear of makeup. From the bench across from her, two freckled boys stare at Isabelle and bounce with excitement.
She pulls herself up to her full height, tilts her chin a bit higher and starts toward them.
E
normous thanks to people who helped along the way: search angel Marilyn Waugh, Deborah Jiang-Stein, Gail Konop Baker, Danielle Younge-Ullman, Barbara Annino, Evan McIntosh, Marlon Hershkop, Joseph Hershkop, Bruce Urquhart, Johnny Pigeau, Karen Elliott, Dean Andrews, Keith Cronin, Joanne Levy, Judy Merrill Moticka, and John MacDonald.
As always, to my literary agent, Daniel Lazar, and my film agent, Kassie Evashevski. At Writers House, Victoria Doherty-Munro and Maja Nikolic. At UTA, Johnny Pariseau. My brilliant editor at HarperCollins Canada, Jennifer Lambert. Also at HarperCollins Canada, Melissa Zilberberg, Leo MacDonald, Cory Beatty, Kaitlyn Vincent, Vikki Vansickle, Noelle Zitzer, and Allyson Latta.
Most of all, best of all, Max and Lucas.
TISH COHEN is the author of both YA and adult novels, including
The Truth About Delilah Blue, Inside Out Girl
, and Town House. The last two works have been optioned for film.
WEB: tishcohen.com
FACEBOOK: Tish Cohen
TWITTER: @TishCohen
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“
In The Search Angel
, Tish Cohen explores how the things one desires most are often linked inextricably to our pasts. Eleanor Sweet’s story is told with compassion, humour, and intelligence—all the ingredients you look for in the best of books.”
CATHERINE MCKENZIE
,
author of Hidden
“Beautifully written and populated with achingly real characters,
The Search Angel
strikes a delicate balance between incisive humour and the sadness and joy that are the inevitable by-products of love.”
SUSAN JUBY
,
author of The Woefield Poultry Collective
“
The Search Angel
is a page-turner. I could not put it down, and those are the only clichés you will read with regards to this book. A funny, sad, touching, and original story that shouldn’t be missed.”
COLIN MOCHRIE
, actor and comedian
“Filled with exquisite phrasing and quirky characters,
The Search Angel
is an impossible-to-put-down novel about finding a family on the way to finding yourself. Tish Cohen writes like an angel!”
CLAIRE COOK
,
author of Must Love Dogs and Time Flies
FOR ADULTS
Town House
Inside Out Girl
The Truth About Delilah Blue
FOR CHILDREN
The Invisible Rules of the Zoë Lama
The One and Only Zoë Lama
Little Black Lies
Switch
The Search Angel
Copyright © 2013 by Tish Cohen.
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EPub Edition © MAY 2013 ISBN: 9781443410847
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
FIRST EDITION
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