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August 4th sees the publication of the fourth title in STEPHENIE MEYER's TWILIGHT SERIES< and this month's Books Monthly offers you a chance to win copies of all four titles! All you have to do is to name Stephenie's other published novel not in the Twilight series, e-mail your answer to me together with your name and address - competition only open to UK residents, closes August 28th
Stephenie Meyer (born December 24, 1973, in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American author. She is the author of the books The Host and Twilight, along with Twilight's sequels New Moon and Eclipse. Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the Twilight series, has been completed and will be released on August 2, 2008. She has also written the first draft of Midnight Sun, a companion novel in the series.
The Twilight series is centered on a teenager named Isabella Swan (nicknamed Bella), her vampire love Edward Cullen, and her werewolf best friend Jacob Black.
Meyer grew up in Phoenix, Arizona with a large family. She has five siblings: Emily, Heidi, Paul, Seth and Jacob. She "borrowed" her siblings' names for use in her Twilight novels, most notably for the character of Jacob Black, who shares the same name as her brother, but was not named after him. Meyer attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she majored in English. She met her husband Christian, nicknamed "Pancho", when she was growing up in Arizona, and married him in 1994. Together they have three sons, Gabe, Seth, and Eli. Meyer is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church.
Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream about a girl and a sparkling vampire sitting in a meadow on June 2, 2003, the transcript of which is now Chapter 13 of the book. After writing and editing the novel, she signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company.
Chapter 1 >> Chapter Two >> Chapter Three >> Chapter Four
PHYLLIS OWEN
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
CHAPTER FIVE
Karen awaited the arrival of breakfast with considerable foreboding. Apart from her concern about the amount of food she would be required to eat, the realisation that she was going to be watched was both humiliating and embarrassing, and her dislike of the hospital increased to one of intense loathing.
“Why, oh why,” she kept on asking herself, “can’t I be left to live my own life and make my own decisions without all this stupid and unnecessary interference? My parents ran my life at home and now these busybodies have taken over.”
“Hello Karen, I’m Nurse Sinclair.”
Karen looked up to see a nurse standing next to her bed. She was in her early twenties, tall, slim and with a fresh complexion. She smiled as she leaned forward and placed a tray in front of Karen. On the tray was a small plate of porridge. Next to it was another plate with two pieces of buttered toast.
Karen drew back in disgust. “Ugh!” she exclaimed.
Nurse Sinclair smiled, pulled the bench from under the bed, sat down and folded her arms.
Karen picked up the spoon and began listlessly prodding the porridge. “Ugh!” she repeated, this time more fervently. “Do I have to eat this muck!”
“That’s right, Karen,” replied the nurse firmly, “and I’ll sit here until the plates are empty.”
With that Karen applied the spoon to her lips. She swallowed and looked at the nurse. “Are you new here?” she asked in a monotone.
“No! I’ve been working in this ward for over eighteen months and returned last night from three weeks’ leave.”
Karen placed the spoon in the plate. “Do you like it here?” she wanted to know, hoping to draw the nurse’s attention away from the food.
“Eat up, Karen, or the food will get cold. Yes, I find the work most interesting and glad that I managed to get a post here.”
After applying another spoonful of porridge to her lips Karen looked at the nurse disbelievingly. “Why did you want to come here?”
“Because of something that happened in my family. Doug, my younger brother, was at a school for apprentice jockeys. As you know, jockeys have to keep a close watch on their weight. He became obsessed with the fear that he would put on too much weight. I knew nothing about this as the school was some distance away from where we lived. One evening I received a phone call at home.” She paused and pointed to the plate. “Good, Karen, there’s not much porridge left. The phone call was from the superintendant of the school. I took the call because my parents were away for a few days and I was shocked to hear that my brother had become terribly thin. They were very worried about him. When I went to the school to see him I was horrified. He was as thin as a rake and not his usual cheerful self. In fact when I tried to speak to him about his appearance he became sullen and snapped back at me. I went to the superintendent and told him that I too shared his concern. He kindly agreed to continue keeping an eye on him.
Karen finished the porridge and idly picked up a piece of toast.
“A few days later,” continued Nurse Sinclair, “I was on duty in the casualty ward at the Provincial Hospital when my brother was brought in on a stretcher. During a practice run he’d fallen from the horse and had fractured his leg in two places.”
In spite of herself, Karen was by now listening intently to every word of the nurse’s story.
“While he was in hospital they found that Doug had anorexia nervosa.” She sighed and smiled wanly at Karen. “Unfortunately, because of the multiple nature of the fracture, he walks with a limp and his days of professional horseriding are now over. When he was told this he became very depressed but, I’m glad to say, after much soul-searching, he pulled himself together and agreed to be admitted to this hospital. He overcame his anorexia and is now working for a firm of horse breeders. It was however, a very worrying time for my parents.” She paused. “Karen, you’ve eaten a piece of toast: there’s only one more piece. Come on, you’re doing well.”
Karen looked down at the plate and was surprised to see that she had indeed eaten the toast. She picked up the other piece and nibbled at a corner. “Must I eat this,” she asked, frowning.
“Yes, Karen,” the nurse replied, and went on with her story. “What to me is quite wonderful is that we are once again very good friends. Looking back, it was not necessary for Doug to have worried about his weight. Part of the training at the apprentice school involved instruction on how to maintain a satisfactory weight without harming one’s body. All the apprentices were weighed regularly by a dietician and, by the time they finished the course each one had his own individual diet chart so there was no danger of Doug becoming too heavy.” She smiled and added, “My, you’ve finished your food. Good girl.”
An angry flush stained Karen’s cheeks. “So that’s how you work!” she cried. “You’re so devious! You talk to me to keep my mind off the food I’m eating. That ridiculous story about your brother, is that also a gimmick?”
Nurse Sinclair drew her head back as if she had been slapped across the face. “Karen!” she gasped, a hurt look in her eyes, “I told you about my brother because you asked me why I wanted to work here!”
Karen swallowed hard when she realised that she had been mistaken and a twinge of conscience made her feel uncomfortable. She suddely became aware of the silence in the ward. The girls at the table were staring at her in horror. Even Petra, who was still on bed rest, sat stiffly in her bed looking at her, wide-eyed.
Karen gulped. “I’m …I’m…sorry,” she spluttered. “Please…”
“Forget it!” Nurse Sinclair said abruptly. “I’ll take the tray now.”
She left the ward.
Karen looked guiltily around her. Just then Gertie jumped up from her seat and walked purposefully to Karen. “We’ve all tried our best to be friendly towards you,” she hissed, “but your rudeness to Nurse Sinclair is the end. How dare you treat her so badly? She’s one of the kindest and most sincere nurses in this place.”
Karen glowered at her. “Who are you to talk,” she burst out. “Leave me alone!”
“Don’t worry, we will!” shouted Lee-Ann.
Karen flinched and buried her head in the pillow.
“Do you think you’re the only one with problems?” Gertie shouted. “We’ve had our fair share too. It’s about time you snapped out of it!” She stormed back to the girls at the table.
“Let’s go into the garden,” called Cheryl. “Leave Karen to wallow in her misery.”
When the girls had left the room Karen turned on her back and stared up at the ceiling. As she lay there Gertie’s stinging rebuke echoed in her ears and there stole into her mind the face of Nurse Sinclair, her eyes clouded with pain.
Is it not possible, she wondered, that there may perhaps be something wrong with me? She thought of the food she had just eaten. It had been completely tasteless and the slimy porridge had been too nauseating for words. But, she consoled herself, I had to eat it and I must try to eat whatever muck they put in front of me or I’ll be condemned to live in this place for the rest of my life!
Petra called across to her. “I’m allowed up tomorrow,” she said, with obvious pleasure.
Petra had bulimia, a type of anorexia in which, instead of starving herself, she would either eat normally or sometimes too much and then make herself sick after every meal. She had gone through a difficult period when she arrived at the hospital, being unable to control her vomiting, but she was now eating normally and had lost the urge to bring up her food.
Karen gave her a half smile. “I’m glad for you,” she answered.
There were a few moments of silence: then Petra whispered, “I wish I could help you.”
“Why?” asked Karen, suspiciously. She felt herself go crimson. “Why does everyone get the impression that I need help?”
“Oh, Karen,” replied Petra, sadly. “We all need help.”
Karen was about to snarl back at her but Petra continued, “Are you happy?”
Karen stared at Petra disbelievingly, “What a question!” she snapped, her body tense.
“But an important one, and if you’re honest with yourself the answer must be “NO!”
“What’s it got to do with you!” Karen was furious. “You’ve no room to talk!”
“I know. But it’s got a lot to do with you!” Petra retorted and, with an air of finality, she turned on her side with her back towards Karen, as if dismissing her.
Karen stared out of the window. She could see the sun shining from a cloudless sky. Below the window a bird hopped along one of the branches of a flowering shrub. Karen blinked furiously, trying to stop the tears from welling up into her eyes.
Just before lunch the girls returned. Karen felt acutely aware that they were pointedly ignoring her. A few minutes later Nurse Sinclair brought Karen’s food and sat down on the bench beside her. Karen stared at her wide-eyed and shifted uncomfortably in the bed. Nurse Sinclair did not say a word. She removed a book from her pocket and began reading.
Karen could sense the antipathy in the ward. When the meals for the others arrived they ate them in silence. Karen forced her food down as quickly as she could and almost choked on a piece of fish. When she had finished Nurse Sinclair took her tray and left the ward.
“Let’s play battleships,” suggested Cheryl.
That was the last straw. Karen recalled how she, her mother, Sue and Philip often played ‘Battleships’. It seemed like a thousand years ago. They always laughed a lot in those days. She turned and buried her head in the pillow and sobbed as if her heart would break.