Author Archives: CuriousWriter

Olive Whinging was in her first week of her latest new job: a part-time helper at one of the bookshops on the high street. She’d had a relatively difficult time trying to convince the manager of the shop that she was genuinely interested in books, but she wouldn’t have come to work there anyway ifContinue reading “Chapter 18”

Alice Reynolds had undergone an extraordinary and sudden transformation since Olive had agreed to put her in charge of the upcoming legal case.             In the seven days leading up to the hearing, Alice woke up every morning at half past five and climbed off her bed (Mary’s pool table covered in a thin blanket)Continue reading “Chapter 17”

Reluctantly, Olive closed the large, red card folder, and placed it on the table at which she was sitting. The haunting words of Ethel’s latest essay (‘What I did in the summer holidays’) seemed imprinted on her brain. Opposite her, an overweight head mistress with fluffy yellow hair and large glasses with square frames smiledContinue reading “Chapter 16”

Olive was fibbing.             She wasn’t downright lying; that would just be immoral. But she was telling white lies. A lot of white lies. A whole ocean of huge white lies. And Mary Maveryck, who was currently standing beside her throne as she addressed her fellow members of the Team, was staring at her inContinue reading “Chapter 15”

Olive and Frederick’s wedding had seemed almost like some kind of circus. Even though Frederick’s wedding diet had eliminated the excess flesh clinging to his frame, unveiling a series of previously undiscovered bones, she had begun to doubt whether she was actually fond of Frederick already. For one thing, the original Whinging family had behavedContinue reading “Chapter 14”

Alice Reynolds landed neatly and efficiently on the floor, using her fingertips to keep herself upright. The window, through which she had just climbed, was tiny, square-shaped and made from frosted glass, and the room in which she found herself was also miniature. To her left, a shining hand basin stood against the wall, withContinue reading “Chapter 13”

It was Wednesday morning; the day that Olive and Mary were due to visit the Whinging brothers. The girls, having sneaked out of their houses several hours before they usually would have done (Mary had had to climb out of her window and down a drainpipe so that her grandmother could not stop her andContinue reading “Chapter 12”

Olive had been thinking and thinking, but she simply didn’t know what to do next. It was true that Lucy Waters did not seem to be concocting any kind of incredible plan, but she was perfectly aware that they were sure to be under attack. Who knew what Lucy would plan for them now? YouContinue reading “Chapter 11”

The young seventeen-year-old girl named Olive Whackitt woke up. Her room was dark with the curtains drawn, but Olive could see a very thin line of sunlight through the crack. She sat up and looked around her. Olive was in the same bedroom that she had arrived home to six years ago, when the WarContinue reading “Chapter 10”

It was the morning after Olive’s moderately successful afternoon of casing the joint, but she couldn’t be more miserable. Following Alice’s warning, Olive had spent several hours obsessively searching every inch of Raymond’s account, and finding adoring comments from this mysterious ‘Lulu’ wherever she looked. The name sounded strangely familiar, and Olive had racked herContinue reading “Chapter 9”