Anna McPartlin - Alexandra, Gone

No denying McPartlin has a way with words.

Sunday Tribune(Ireland)

PRAISEFORANNAMcPARTLIN

ALEXANDRA, GONE

McPartlin writes with insight and compassion. Enormously readable.

The Irish Times

McPartlin is one of the most interesting popular fiction writers around; funny and romantic, but also realistic, even dark.

Irish Independent

ASSUREASTHESUN

Balances the light and dark in her characters.

Sunday Tribune (Ireland)

McPartlins characters come smiling through compelling and infused with compassion, but with McPartlins trademark: a wicked sense of humor.

Irish Independent

Excellent narrative of a womans search for herself and the understanding of what it means to love.

Fresh Fiction

APARTFROMTHECROWD

A realistic and complex story of love in its many forms.

Publishers Weekly

Truly absorbing from start to finish. It impressed me so much that I will be reading it again.

Irish Mail on Sunday

PACKUPTHEMOON

Refreshingly honest, laugh-out-loud funny and heartfelt.

International bestselling author Cathy Kelly

A heartfeltand surprisingly funnydebut novel with a Hollywood-worthy ending.

Cosmopolitan

Crisply written, insightful and moving.

Irish Independent

ALSO BY ANNA MCPARTLIN

Pack Up the Moon

Apart from the Crowd

As Sure as the Sun

Available from Downtown Press

Anna McPartlin

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2009 by Anna McPartlin

Originally published in Ireland in 2009 by Poolbeg Press, Ltd.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address
Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

First Downtown Press trade paperback edition April 2010

DOWNTOWN PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases,
please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949
or business@simonandschuster.com.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at
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Designed by Akasha Archer

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McPartlin, Anna, 1972
Alexandra, gone / Anna McPartlin.1st Downtown Press trade pbk. ed.
p. cm.
1. Disappeared persons spousesFiction. 2. Loss (Psychology)Fiction.
3. Rock music fansFiction. 4. FriendshipFiction. 5. Psychological fiction.
6. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
PR6113.C585A79 2010
823.92dc22

ISBN 978-1-4391-2333-1
ISBN 978-1-4391-6920-9 (ebook)

For Donal, and for all the fans of Jack

Anna McPartlins first book, Pack Up the Moon, was published by Poolbeg in January 2006. Since then Anna has written two more novels, Apart from the Crowd and As Sure as the Sun, also published by Poolbeg. Her books have been published in Ireland, Germany, America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. She has also written a drama for TV3 and is currently working on a film script. Anna lives in Dublin with her husband, Donal; their cat, Maggie; and their dogs, Harriet and Trudy.

The first time I heard Jack Lukeman sing, we were both teenagers. His voice was as big then as it is now, and its something Ill never forget. He was a kid and he could silence a room full of adults with just one bar of Summertime. Ive witnessed his talent and career unfold over the past twenty years, and some of my best times have been hanging out with one or all of the Jack camp. I was there in the beginning, when Jack led the Black Romantics and they played night after night in the Da Club. I took my turn selling the first album, Wax, during the intermission. Once or twice I was roped into carrying gear through the streets of Dublin heading for 38 South Circular Road, which was the Jack base camp for all of the nineties. So many demos were recorded there; so many people lived there on and off: Jack in the back flat, David in the front, Martin upstairs. There was always something going on. Football, EU canned meats, comedy gigs, phone calls to and from America in the middle of the night, drums, bass, vocals, drinking, smoking, laughing. When I think about the nineties I think about 38 SCR, and it always makes me smile. The first time I conceived the smallest kernel of the idea for Alexandra, Gone was while standing on a balcony with Martin, looking down at the crowd at a sellout show. Onstage Jack was singing and doing his thing, but it was the crowd that captured my imagination. They were in awe, transfixed and completely silent. I made a joke to Martin that we should set up a church, the Church of Jack, and make some real money. The image stayed with me, and over the years, seeing a lot of the same faces come to show after show, the idea of fans becoming friends wouldnt let go. I spoke to Jack, Martin, and David about the idea for this book as early as two years ago, and not only were they really supportive but they gave me carte blanche to incorporate all of Jacks material. Im so grateful to them for trusting me not to f##k up. If you read this book and your interest in Jack Lukeman is piqued, his website is www.jacklukeman.com . I hope you enjoy his music as much as I do.

So to all in the Jack camp, beginning of course with Jack Lukeman, thank you for the songs and the laughter over the past twentysomething years. Martin Clancy, you are and always will be one of my best friends and Ill be forever grateful for the day you walked into my world. David Constantine, that night in Northumberland Road, me on crutches, the meter out of coins, and a lunatic screaming the words Ive gone blindthat was our Vietnam. I love you, man! Myra Clancy, you rock, and Patricia Clancy, I can honestly say there isnt one of us you havent mothered at some point. Thank you.

I also thank Ken Browne. When my husband introduced us fifteen years ago, Ken was a guitar player in a rock band. We lost contact and didnt see him for years, and when we reconnected we discovered that he had transformed into an incredible artist. He, like me, is inspired by music and uses it in his work. Hes energetic, with the ability to say more in a minute then some say in a lifetime. Hes deeply passionate about his work, and when Im around him he reminds me how lucky we are to be in a position to be creative and to do the things we love doing. (When my pal Enda reads this he will yawn and make an unseemly gesture with his right hand. Apologies, Enda, Im finished; the luvvy has left the room.) I asked Ken if I could pick his brain for this book and also asked if I could include him. He was kind enough not only to grant me my wish but also to act excited about it. So thanks again for your enthusiasm, exuberance, and the beautiful painting that rests on my sitting-room wall. For anyone who wishes to view the works I mention in the book, his website is www.kenbrowneart.com .