You Will Learn Nothing Good From Mister Dryden

Why I Stole Your Life

The wealthy Mrs Read has been tricked into thinking that Mary is her legitimate grandson, Mark. Now installed in Mrs Read’s London household, she must maintain her disguise.

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You Will Learn Nothing Good From Mister Dryden

I am not the only one not going by their name. Charles, the negro servant, corrects me the very first time we are alone. I have a question about the gloves but have no sooner begun with ‘Charles,’ then he stops me with a finger.

‘My name is not Charles,’ he says. ‘My name is Adisa.’

I might say my name is not Mark, to show him we are not so different, but if I told him my real name he would know we’re as different as cat and dog.

‘Adisa,’ he says again, as though my thinking was a kind of not listening.

I say it back to him, and though it is not a complicated name, I step over it uncertainly like an unlit path. He laughs.

‘Adisa,’ he repeats. ‘Remember it. Charles is my English name. Mrs Read gave it to me. There were two kings of that na…