This book would not have been written, and nor would I be a writer at all, without the support of my wife, Anne Buist, who again provided inspiration, encouragement, and a critical eye.
Special thanks are due to Orest Bilas (late of Manchester) and Piano Man Pete Walsh.
My editors, Michael Heyward, Rebecca Starford, and David Winter at Text Publishing, helped me take the manuscript a long way from the draft I wrote between the Rosie novels.
My early readers were there before and during the formal editing process, and made innumerable valuable suggestions: Jon Backhouse, Tania Chandler, Eamonn Cooke, Judy Della-Vecchia, Robert Eames, Irina Goundortseva, Toni Jordan, Rod Miller, Helen O’Connell, Susannah Petty, Daniel Simsion, Dominique Simsion, Chris and Sue Waddell, Pete and Geri Walsh, and Janifer Willis.
My international publishers—Cordelia Borchardt (Fischer, Germany), Jennifer Enderlin (St. Martin’s Press, U.S.), Maxine Hitchcock (Penguin, UK), and Jennifer Lambert (HarperCollins, Canada)—also provided helpful input.
Thanks also to Robin Baker, Peter Dawson, Susan and Martin Gandar, Emma Healey and Andrew McKechnie, David Hay, Kim Krejus, Sarah Lutyens, Karyn Marcus, Steve Mitchell, and Susan Sly.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the continuing contribution of the team at Text Publishing—in particular Anne Beilby, Alice Cottrell, Jane Novak, and Kirsty Wilson—and my publishers and agents around the world who have done so much to bring my books to readers and to enable me to continue working as a writer.