We wrote The Unheard in 2020, through lockdowns and months of social isolation. But we never felt distant from our agents and our publishers, who encouraged, helped and kept us going during times of such dislocating strangeness, when they had their own problems to deal with. We are hugely grateful to them and won’t forget how generous they were with their time, their energy and their hope, watching over us.
In particular we would like to thank our terrific, kind and gallant agent, Sarah Ballard, always our first and trusted reader, and her assistant, the fabulous Eli Keren. We are also indebted to our wonderful agents at ILA, Nicki Kennedy and Sam Edenborough, for their constancy and guidance.
Suzanne Baboneau, our editor, has lifted us up with her enthusiasm, imagination and energy, and we have been supported throughout by the whole Simon & Schuster family. We’d like to mention in particular Ian Chapman, Jessica Barratt, Hayley McMullan and Alice Rodgers.
To our agent in the US, Joy Harris, who we have known and valued for so many years now, thank you for all you do for us. And we are hugely grateful to our fabulous US editor Emily Krump for her flair and her belief in us. We feel very lucky to have been supported by everyone at HarperCollins: especially the tireless, patient Julia Elliott and Christina Joell.
We feel very lucky that Ambo Anthos has been our publishing home in the Netherlands ever since we became Nicci French. Our heartfelt thanks to our editor there, Tanja Hendriks, and to all the committed and imaginative team, above all Jennifer Boomkamp, Kanta van Zonneveld, Bertine Schipper, Maartje de Jong and Marije Lenstra. And to Willemien Cazzato-Wagner: we are bowled over by those tulips!
We know there are people we will have failed to mention. People say that writing is a lonely business, and sometimes it is, and yet it is also a joyfully collaborative process; so many people work together to bring a book into the world and we know how very fortunate we are to be surrounded and protected by so many talented, dedicated, kind people. Thank you all.