Table of Contents
Cheadle 22 October, 1983.
PART ONE 1952–1953
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
PART TWO 1982–1983
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
Reading Group Discussion Questions by Jenny Terpsichore Abeles
About the Author
DEATH OF
A UNICORN
PETER
DICKINSON
Small Beer Press
Easthampton, MA
By the Same Author
Children’s Books
Picture Books
*Available or forthcoming from Small Beer Press.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed
in this book are either fictitious or used fictitiously.
First Small Beer Press edition published in 2013.
The Unicorn Leaps across a Stream. The Hunt of the Unicorn. ca. 1495-1505. Wool warp, wool, silk, silver, and gilt wefts. 12 ft. 1 in. x 14 ft. (368.3 x 426.7 cm). Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1937 (37.80.3). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, U.S.A. Photo Credit: Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant Street #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
smallbeerpress.com
weightlessbooks.com
info@smallbeerpress.com
Distributed to the trade by Consortium.
ISBN: 9781618730404 | ebook: 9781618730411.
First edition 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Original edition Library of Congress—Cataloging in Publication Data
Dickinson, Peter, 1927—Death of a unicorn.
I. Title.
PR6054.135D4 1984 823’.914 84-42700
ISBN 0-394-53947-8
0-394-74100-5 (pbk)
Text set in Minion.
Paper edition printed on 50# Natures Natural 30% PCR Recycled Paper in the USA.
Cheadle
22 October, 1983.
My dear Fiona,
I do not yet know whether I shall leave this manuscript for you to find, or whether it will be you I shall leave it for. We are a long-lived family, and a lot may yet happen in both our lives. But assuming I do, and it is you, I think you may find it easier to understand if I tell you how it came into existence.
It was written in two stages, the first almost thirty years before the second. In the summer of 1953 I had an absolute need to get the events of the previous ten months out of my system so that I could start creating some sort of a life for myself again. So I wrote the first part of this manuscript, put it in the bottom of a drawer, and let other unwanted papers accumulate on top of it.
Last year, partly as a result of your coming to stay at Cheadle, I found I needed to reconsider the details of those ten months, so I got the old manuscript out and read it through. It struck me, doing so, that I might show it to you to help you in the decision I was hoping you would make, but then, as more old history came to light, I discovered something which meant that it would be extremely unfair on my part to use it in an attempt to influence you. You will see why when you read it.
What I discovered was a considerable shock, though very different from the simple, primitive event I believed I was coping with in 1953. Besides, I had been a simple, primitive person then, and am no longer. But it still seemed necessary to use the same old simple magic. Write it out. Put it in a drawer. Bury it. Only this time for you (perhaps) to find.
