She didn’t seem to be listening. She didn’t care about ancient nuns. She was very, very young. A novice at everything, though perhaps stronger than he was. She’d refused to let him go on sniffling. In her old-fashioned white dress that rustled like drapery in the snowbanks, she’d announced, “It’s time to get out of here.”
She rubbed the condensation on the passenger window and looked out over the hills. “I can see the lights of Manhattan.”
“Manhattan is at least a hundred fifty miles to the south. You’re seeing starlight, that’s all.”
“Must be a big star up there.” She squinted and then fell back against the headrest. Her hand dropped to her lap. “Sing to the baby.”
“I don’t know any lullabies.”
“Make one up.”
He couldn’t, not on request, not now. “How about a verse of ‘O Holy Night’?”
“Maybe we should call him Jesus, too.” Or had she said Jesus Two?
The car filled with a profound, even a great silence.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you to early readers of The Next Queen of Heaven—Betty Levin, Andy Newman, William Reiss, and Maggie Stern Terris.
Special thanks are due to the heavenly beings behind Concord Free Press, a nonprofit publishing venture founded by Ann and Stona Fitch. (Check it out at www.concordfreepress.com.) Early editorial advice from Ann Fitch shaped the Concord Free Press edition, which is almost exactly reproduced in this HarperCollins edition but for some adjustments due to a few different house-style conventions and to even fewer second thoughts. Thanks to Concord Free Press for bringing this baby into the world, and to Cassie Jones and HarperCollins for providing it shelter and a permanent home once it had arrived.
For readers who know me primarily as a writer of fantasy, the setting and subject matter (and the vernacular spoken by characters herein) may come as a surprise. Forgive me my trespasses. It’s my suspicion that heaven may be both more disguised and more accessible than any other fantastic locale I might choose to write about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GREGORY MAGUIRE is the bestselling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, and the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men. He is also the author of the acclaimed nonfiction work Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation and Matchless, an illustrated reimagining of the classic children’s tale “The Little Match Girl.” Wicked, now a beloved classic, is the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Maguire has lectured on art, literature, and culture both at home and abroad. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
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ALSO BY GREGORY MAGUIRE
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Lost
Mirror Mirror
Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation
Matchless
THE WICKED YEARS
Wicked
Son of a Witch
A Lion Among Men
Copyright
HARPER
Alimited edition paperback of this book was published in 2009 by Concord Free Press.
THE NEXT QUEEN OF HEAVEN. Copyright © 2009 by Gregory Maguire.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-02371-1
FIRST HARPER PAPERBACK PUBLISHED 2010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maguire, Gregory.
The next queen of heaven : a novel / by Gregory Maguire. — Ist Harper pbk.ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-06-202371-1 (pbk.)
1. City and town life—New York (State)—Fiction. 2. Eccentrics and eccentricities—Fiction. 3. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 4. Teenagers—Fiction. 5. New York (State)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.A3535N49 2010
813’.54—dc22 2010019896
10 11 12 13 14 ETM/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Gregory Maguire, The Next Queen of Heaven
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