# Read the first page of Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward Read the opening of Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward free, no signup. A stolen memoir blurs memory and a stalker. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/looking-glass-sound-catriona-ward - Genre: Horror - Year: 2023 - ISBN: 9781250860040 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781800811003&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781250860040 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781250860040 ## The opening I’m looking at myself in the bathroom mirror and thinking about love, because I plan on falling in love this summer. I don’t know how or with whom. Outside, the city is a hot tarry mess. There must be someone in New York who … I wish I wasn’t so weird-looking. I’m not even asking to be loved back, just to know what it feels like. I make a face in the mirror, pulling my lower lip all the way down so the inside shows on the outside. Then I pull my lower eyelids down so they glare red. ‘Hello,’ I say to the mirror. ‘I love you.’ I give a yell as my mom bursts in without knocking. ‘Mom! Privacy!’ A startled roach breaks from behind the pipes and runs across the cracked tile floor, fast and straight like it’s being pulled by fishing line. ‘You want privacy, you lock the door.’ She grabs me by the arm. ‘Come on, monkey. Big news.’ She drags me to the living room where the air con roars like lions. Dad holds a piece of paper. ‘Probate is finished,’ he says. ‘The cottage is ours.’ The paper trembles; I can’t tell if it’s from the aircon or whether his hands are shaking. He looks exhausted. Good and bad can feel like the same thing, I think, if they’re intense enough. Dad takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. Uncle Vernon died in April. Dad really loved him. He goes up every summer to visit – well, he did. We never went with him. ‘Vernon’s crabby,’ Dad always said. ‘Doesn’t much like women or kids.’ Uncle Vernon was the last of that side of his family. We Harlows aren’t much good at staying alive so Uncle Vernon did better than most; he made it to his seventies. ‘We have to list it right away,’ Dad says. ‘Sell while the summer’s still fine. I know that.’ We all know that. The envelopes with red on them come through the door all the time. ‘Tell you what,’ Mom says. ‘Let’s go up there first, OK? Before we sell.’ ‘What?’ Dad keeps wiping his glasses. His eyes are pink and naked. ‘Let’s have a vacation,’ Mom says. She tucks a strand of imaginary hair behind her ear, which is a sign that she’s excited. We haven’t had a vacation since that trip to Rehoboth Beach when I was seven. ‘What do you say, Wilder?’ ‘That could be fun,’ I say, hesitant. The ocean sounds like a good place to fall in love. Plus, if we take a vacation maybe my mom and dad might stop fighting. They think I don’t hear but I do. In the night a certain kind of whisper sounds louder than yelling. ‘You deserve a vacation, monkey,’ she whispers. ‘We’re so proud of you.’ The phone call came yesterday – Scottsboro Prep are renewing my full-board scholarship. I let her hug me. The truth is that things at Scottsboro got pretty bad by the end of term. ## Books with a similar feel - [The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-ballad-of-black-tom-victor-lavalle.md) - [The Shining by Stephen King](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-shining-stephen-king.md) - [Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman](https://uncovered.ink/read/incidents-around-the-house-josh-malerman.md) - [Mister Magic by Kiersten White](https://uncovered.ink/read/mister-magic-kiersten-white.md) - [Commencement by Clay McLeod Chapman](https://uncovered.ink/read/commencement-clay-mcleod-chapman.md) - [The Invited by Jennifer McMahon](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-invited-jennifer-mcmahon.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.