The library was twice the size of her living room and soared two stories high, up to a ceiling that swirled with patterns of blue and green and white, like an abstraction of the coast that she’d called home. Two wrought-iron, spiral staircases led up to the second balcony level, and each full bookcase had a sliding ladder just waiting to fulfill her childhood fantasy. The far wall was dominated by a massive floor-to-ceiling mullioned window, with a bed-sized window seat piled with pillows, and a small selection of loungers and cushy chairs were carefully arranged in the central open area. A
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