Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (28 page)

VIKING

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First American edition

Published in 2004 by Viking Penguin,

a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright © Helen Fielding, 2003

All rights reserved

Excerpt from “Whispers of Immortality” from
Collected Poems 1909-1962
by T. S. Eliot reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Fielding, Helen, date.

Olivia Joules and the overactive imagination / Helen Fielding

p. cm.

ISBN 0-670-03333-2

1. Women spies—Fiction.    2. Women journalists—Fiction.    3. Terrorism—Prevention—Fiction.    4. British—Foreign countries—Fiction.    I. Title.

PR6056.I4588O44 2004

823’.914—dc22       2003069469

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

Set in Bembo with AG Schoolbook

Designed by Daniel Lagin

Withoutlimitingtherightsundercopyrightreservedabove,nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans(electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise),withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofboththecopyrightownerandtheabovepublisherofthisbook.

Thescanning,uploading,anddistributionofthisbookviatheInternetorviaanyothermeanswithoutthepermissionofthepublisherisillegalandpunishablebylaw.Pleasepurchaseonlyauthorizedelectroniceditionsanddonotparticipateinorencourageelectronicpiracyofcopyrightablematerials.Yoursupportoftheauthor’srightsisappreciated.

v1.0 December 2004 – Desktop & PocketPC .lit

Scan, conversion, and proofing.