Chrysalis

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Epigraph Elliot Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Bella Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Susie Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Acknowledgments About the Author Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Contents Start Copyright Print Page List iii iv v 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 183 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 261 263 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chrysalis is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 Copyright © 2023 by Anna Metcalfe
 All rights reserved.
 Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
 Random House and the House colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
 Grateful acknowledgment is made to The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited for permission to reprint an excerpt from the Cornell lecture “On Transformation” by Vladimir Nabokov, copyright © Vladimir Nabokov. Used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Metcalfe, Anna, 1987- author.
 Title: Chrysalis: a novel / Anna Metcalfe.
 Description: First edition. | New York: Random House, 2023
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022052409 (print) | LCCN 2022052410 (ebook) |
 ISBN 9780593446959 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593446966 (ebook)
 Subjects: LCSH: Psychological fiction. | LCGFT: Novels.
 Classification: LCC PR6113.E78 C48 2023 (print) | LCC PR6113.E78 (ebook) |
 DDC 823/.92—dc23/eng/20221202
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022052409
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022052410
 Ebook ISBN 9780593446966
 randomhousebooks.com
 Book design by Ralph Fowler, adapted for ebook
 Thorn illustration by lumyaisweet / Adobe Stock
 Cover design: Michael Morris
 Cover illustration: Ed Binkley
 ep_prh_6.1_143034194_c0_r0
 
 
 
 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Epigraph
 
 
 Elliot
 
 Chapter One
 
 
 Chapter Two
 
 
 Chapter Three
 
 
 Chapter Four
 
 
 Chapter Five
 
 
 Chapter Six
 
 
 Chapter Seven
 
 
 Chapter Eight
 
 
 Chapter Nine
 
 
 
 Bella
 
 Chapter One
 
 
 Chapter Two
 
 
 Chapter Three
 
 
 Chapter Four
 
 
 Chapter Five
 
 
 Chapter Six
 
 
 Chapter Seven
 
 
 Chapter Eight
 
 
 Chapter Nine
 
 
 Chapter Ten
 
 
 Chapter Eleven
 
 
 Chapter Twelve
 
 
 Chapter Thirteen
 
 
 
 
 
 The pupa splits as the caterpillar had split—it is really a last glorified molt, and the butterfly creeps out—and in its turn hangs down from the twig to dry. She is not handsome at first. She is very damp and bedraggled. But those limp implements of hers that she has disengaged, gradually dry, distend, the veins branch and harden—and in twenty minutes or so she is ready to fly. You have noticed that the caterpillar is a he, the pupa an it, and the butterfly a she. You will ask—what is the feeling of hatching? Oh, no doubt,