Chapter Nine

Summary

• The protagonist cannot tell her mother she is unemployed, fearing her mother would tell her to sue her former company, CGT, for unfair dismissal.
• She lies to her mother, saying she is searching for a "new challenge" to avoid suspicion when she finds a new job.
• Instead of going to work, she spends her days at the British Library, applying for jobs and adopting a routine involving reading, job applications, and writing.
• The protagonist aspires to write and learns of a fiction development program by Carrow Books for underrepresented writers. The program includes the opportunity to work with a literary agent.
• Brainstorming ideas for the program, the protagonist has several book concepts but struggles to develop them past initial notes and diagrams.
• She writes a thousand-word piece about her emotions leaving her father, but decides it's too personal to submit.
• An email arrives inviting her to an interview for a job at Orange Tree Publishing, a small press that she had previously not heard of.
• The protagonist is moving out the next day, delayed to accommodate her brother James, who ends up missing a family dinner due to work commitments.
• The protagonist's mother spent the evening dealing with contractors, leaving the protagonist and her father alone during dinner.
• It is revealed that the protagonist's mother may not be completely dependable in caring for her father, and a caregiver, Dawoud, has been arranged to visit more frequently.
• The protagonist has reservations about her mother's truthfulness regarding her frequent visits to 'various aunties.'
• The chapter concludes with the protagonist reflecting on her last night at home, while her father falls asleep.