Gilbert

Gilbert Coleman had edited the fourth draft of Mr Taylor’s remarkable memoirs. Now all he wanted to do was take the first available flight to London and hand the manuscript to his publisher. But there was something even more important that 30 him from leaving. An 31 he had no intention of missing, under any circumstances. His mother’s seventieth birthday party.

Susan, his mother, had lived in a cottage on the estate since her second husband’s death three years before. She 32 actively involved with several local charities, and 33 she shortened her jogging distance, she continued to jog every day. Gilbert would never forget the personal sacrifices his mother had made to 34 he won a scholarship to Hartford, and with it the chance to compete with anyone, whatever their background, 35 his oldest friend Dave Dowson.

Gilbert and Dave had first met at the church over forty years ago, and seemed an unlikely pair to end up as best friends. One born in the back streets of the docks, the other in a private ward of the London Royal Infirmary. One a scholar, the other a sportsman. And certainly no one would have 36 that Gilbert would fall in love with Dave’s sister, except Alice herself, who claimed she had planned the whole thing after they first met at Dave’s twelfth birthday party.