Learning to Talk
Short Stories
Hilary Mantel

Copyright

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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London SE1 9GF

www.4thestate.co.uk

First published by Fourth Estate in 2003

Copyright © Hilary Mantel 2003

‘King Billy Is a Gentleman’ first appeared in New Writing 1992, Minerva in association with the British Council, 1992; ‘Destroyed’ first appeared in Granta (63), 1998; ‘Curved Is the Line of Beauty’ first appeared in TLS (No. 5157), 2002; ‘Learning to Talk’ first appeared in London Magazine, 1987; ‘Third Floor Rising’ first appeared in The Times Magazine, 2000; ‘The Clean Slate’ first appeared in Woman & Home, 2001

Hilary Mantel asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007166442

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007354887

Version: 2015-04-15

Dedication

Once again with love

to Anne Terese:

and her daughter:

and her daughter.

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

King Billy Is a Gentleman

Destroyed

Curved Is the Line of Beauty

Learning to Talk

Third Floor Rising

The Clean Slate

Giving Up the Ghost

Excerpt from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Keep Reading

About the Author

Praise

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

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