[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-114450-en":3,"doc-seo-114450-105":28,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":26,"read_time":27},114450,1099514068035,"Ezra","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",1,"Story & Novel","Pretty Little Dead Things - A Thomas Usher Novel","A Thomas Usher novel set in a haunting Leeds of the author’s imagination, mixing part fact, part fiction, and a landscape shaped by death’s influence. The opening author’s note frames the atmosphere and invites forgiveness for creative geography. The narrative begins “Fifteen Years Ago,” following a quiet, introspective car journey with a wife and infant daughter, underlining grief carried inward, strained relationships, and the uneasy sense that something unseen is approaching.","[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nGARY McMAHON  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nPRETTY LITTLE DEAD THINGS  \nA THOMAS USHER NOVEL  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFor Emily  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nAUTHOR'S NOTE  \nI have taken certain liberties with the geography of Leeds. Let's just call it artistic licence. The city in this novel is the Leeds of my imagination – part fact, part fiction, wholly extraordinary. I hope keen-eyed readers will forgive me for transforming the place in these subtle ways, and that they enjoy the haunted landscape I've created.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nPART ONE  \nAKNOT, TIGHTENING  \n\"Nothing exists which is not subject to the conditioning of death.\"The Tibetan Book of the Dead  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nI have never visited their graves. The grief I carry always inside me would be too much to bear, so I choose to remember them in my own way, in my own time. Not a day goes by when they are not in my thoughts. They haunt my every movement, but still I have not seen them: they have not come tome in the way that others have, asking that I bear witness to the memory of their passing or simply requesting that I help guide them towards the next part of their journey. But someday, somehow, I hope that they will find their way back to my side.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nONE  \nFifteen Years Ago  \nThe Mersey is a broad, black ribbon, the shimmering lights of Birkenhead promising a world of untold stories on the opposite bank – dark stories, probably told by old men in their cups and women whose skin has been bruised by careless husbands too many times to count. I stare through the passenger window, lost in thoughts of nothing in particular – just thinking, as I tend to do, about life in general: my dull job, paying the bills, the things I think I might be missing out on because I married so young and the things I gained by doing so.  \nThe broad shape of a ferry trawls slowly across the darkened waters, seeming to heave upwards on waves that are not quite visible, as if a giant submerged hand is struggling to lift it above the busy surface of the river. Darkness then presses down on the vessel, giving the illusion that it is now sinking gradually beneath the waves. The motion is so lazy and incremental that it looks like a cartoon animation. I wonder why a ferry is crossing so late at night, and what haulage it might be carrying.  \nThe car swerves to avoid an animal that has run into the road – a dog or a cat or perhaps even a roaming river rat – and Rebecca turns to smile at me, the delicate yellowish hue of the streetlamps at the side of the road catching her face and holding it for a moment in a wash of amber. In that instant I know that I have missed out on nothing in life, because all that I will ever need is inside the car with me. Past mistakes and misdemeanours no longer matter; what is important is how I feel right now, sitting in the dark with my wife and daughter.  \n\"Sorry,\" she says. \"Did I disturb you?\"  \nI shake my head, smiling. \"No. It's okay. I was just woolgathering.\" I have never known exactly what that phrase means, but have always enjoyed the way it sounds. Like a snatch of crude poetry lodged in the back of my mind, or part of the verse from a folk song I might have heard as a child.  \nAllyson sleeps soundly in the back seat; the sudden deviation of the vehicle's path has not broken her slumber. Her breathing is even and her  \nhands are clasped tightly in her lap. I turn around in the passenger seat and watch her, my heart breaking just a little, as it always does whenever I take a moment to realise how much my infant daughter means to me. Her small white face is the face of the world. Her loosely closed eyes are windows through which I might glimpse the truth of my own existence.  \n\"We should be home before midnight. Traffic's light.\" Rebecca's face is stern; she watches the road intently, on edge because of what has just happened with the","cbCaikSt4b5NVjz1","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikSt4b5NVjz1","pdf",1515954,266,"English","en",105,"# Author's Note\n# Part One - Aknot, Tightening\n## One - Fifteen Years Ago","[{\"question\":\"What does the Author's Note explain about the setting of the novel?\",\"answer\":\"It states the author took liberties with Leeds’s geography, describing the city as partly factual, partly fictional, and wholly extraordinary.\"},{\"question\":\"When does the story’s first chapter take place?\",\"answer\":\"The first chapter is labeled “One” and begins “Fifteen Years Ago.”\"},{\"question\":\"What themes are established early in the narrative?\",\"answer\":\"The opening emphasizes grief held privately, reflection on life and regret, and rising tension within relationships.\"}]",1785399903,410,{"code":4,"msg":29,"data":30},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":31,"title":13,"keywords":32,"description":14,"schema_data":33,"social_meta":84,"head_meta":86,"extra_data":88,"updated_unix":26},"pretty-little-dead-things-a-thomas-usher-novel","",{"@graph":34,"@context":83},[35,52,66],{"@type":36,"itemListElement":37},"BreadcrumbList",[38,42,46,49],{"item":39,"name":40,"@type":41,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":43,"name":44,"@type":41,"position":45},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":41,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":41,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/pretty-little-dead-things-a-thomas-usher-novel/114450/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":60,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":61,"interactionStatistic":62},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":39,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30",true,{"@type":63,"interactionType":64,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":65},"ViewAction",{"@type":67,"mainEntity":68},"FAQPage",[69,75,79],{"name":70,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":72},"What does the Author's Note explain about the setting of the novel?","Question",{"text":73,"@type":74},"It states the author took liberties with Leeds’s geography, describing the city as partly factual, partly fictional, and wholly extraordinary.","Answer",{"name":76,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":77},"When does the story’s first chapter take place?",{"text":78,"@type":74},"The first chapter is labeled “One” and begins “Fifteen Years Ago.”",{"name":80,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":81},"What themes are established early in the narrative?",{"text":82,"@type":74},"The opening emphasizes grief held privately, reflection on life and regret, and rising tension within relationships.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":85,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":87,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":90},[91,94,98,102,107,112,117,122,127,130,134],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},90,"story-novel",{"id":45,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":108,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":113,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]