She called on a Monday morning.
Not about my manuscript. I knew immediately from the quality of her opening that this was a different kind of call. Josephine Hale had two speeds on the phone. Measured and deliberate when she was working through something complicated. And the other speed, faster and slightly breathless, that she only used when something had landed in her hands that she had not expected to find there.
She was using the second speed.
She said: I read Nina's manuscript last night.
I set down my coffee.
I said: already.
She said: I started it at eight and I finished it at one in the morning and then I lay awake for another hour thinking about it and now I am calling you before I do anything else today.
I said: Josephine.
She said: it is extraordinary Lena. Different fro
