Mr Romanov's Garden in the Sky Read online

  ‘The beach, cowgirl,’ said Mr Romanov. ‘About walking on the sand. It is like a story . . . a story without an end.’

  ‘I haven’t had a chance, that’s all. I’ve been in that rehab place with Mum.’

  ‘You didn’t do it, did you?’ asked Davey.

  I dipped my eyes and looked back up.

  ‘I couldn’t,’ I said

  ‘You couldn’t? You made it all that way, all the way to the beach and you couldn’t?

  ‘It wasn’t the same without the two of you.’

  ‘So all those kilometres were for nothing, then?’

  ‘They weren’t for nothing, Davey.’

  ‘But Surfers Paradise was your dream, Lexie.’

  ‘I know, but something happened along the way. With the three of us, I mean. This trip changed everything, but I didn’t know what it was until I got to the beach. See, I walked down the steps and I took off my boots, I was all ready to go, one tiny step onto the sand, and then it hit me.’

  ‘What did?’

  I looked at Davey then turned to Mr Romanov and smiled.

  ‘Surfers Paradise,’ I said. ‘I think I’m okay without it.’

  I am fortunate to be surrounded by good people.

  To Laura Harris, who first loved this story.

  To my editor, Heather Curdie, for her wise words and magical touch.

  To Kristin Gill, Tina Gumnior, Dot Tonkin, Angela Duke and everyone at Penguin Random House who had a hand in getting this story out into the world.

  And lastly, to my beautiful girls – Alannah, Molly, Poppy and Tess – I’m a lucky man.

  AUTHOR’S INSPIRATION

  I have my three daughters to thank for this book. They’d been at me for a while to write a story about a girl, and it seemed like the right time to do it.

  I wasn’t sure where to start at first, but two weeks of poking and prodding triggered something from my past; an incident that went on to trouble me for a long time after it happened.

  The incident occurred about twenty-two years ago while I was working as a firefighter at Eastern Hill Fire Station in Melbourne. I remember many things from my work but this incident, a drug overdose in the housing commission in Fitzroy, seemed to trouble me more than anything else I’d seen.

  I remember the housing commission tower and an elevator grinding up to the tenth floor. I remember the elevator doors opening and I remember seeing a woman convulsing on the landing outside her apartment. But most of all, in the madness and urgency, I remember the little girl in the pink pyjamas, sitting on the ground, holding her mother’s hand.

  I’m not sure why this incident came to trouble me more than the others but in the days and months after, I began to wonder what became of that little girl.

  To this day, I never did find out what happened so I suppose I wrote this story for me. I wrote it to put an end to the wondering but mostly I wrote it for that little girl that day.,

  Sometimes confronting, Mr Romanov’s Garden in the Sky is a story full of hope and possibilities.

  It lets our young people know that although life may not be easy, all it takes is one moment, one person, to make a difference. Sometimes there is magic where you least expect it.

  Robert Newton

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Robert Newton works as a firefighter with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. His first novel, My Name is Will Thompson, was published in 2001. Since then he has written seven other novels for young people, including Runner, The Black Dog Gang (shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards), When We Were Two (winner of a Prime Minister’s Literary Award) and Mr Romanov’s Garden in the Sky. He lives on the Mornington Peninsula with his wife and three daughters.

  Also by Robert Newton

  When We Were Two

  The Black Dog Gang

  Runner

  Saturday Morning, Mozart and Burnt Toast

  The Punjabi Pappadum

  The Khaki Kid

  My Name is Will Thompson

  For the little girl on the landing that day.

  I hope life has been kind and your

  world is filled with colour.

  PENGUIN BOOKS

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  Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies

  whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  First published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd, 2017

  Text copyright © Robert Newton 2017.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  Design by Marina Messiha © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Illustrations by Ayrenna/Pepino Verde/Emjay Smith: Shutterstock, and by Marina Messiha

  penguin.com.au

  ISBN: 978-1-76014-297-1

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