ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people helped me with this book in many different ways. My thanks to Max Fatchen; Domhnall Drislane; Clare Forster; Jolyon Blazey; Penny Blazey; Paul Toner; Nick McInerney; Paul McInerney; Grant Wyman of the South Australian Cricket Association; Josh K Stevens, Chelsea Stevens, Dorothy Rawlins of Alexandria House B&B and Arlene Lynes and all at Read Between the Lynes bookstore in Woodstock, Illinois; Dr James Cashman; Ursula Brooks; Suzi Clarke; Noelene Turner; Paul Buchanan; Jeannie and Richard Vallence; Maria Dickenson; Stephanie Dickenson; Sarah Conroy; Brona, Ashley and Ethan Miller; Melanie Scaife; Sinead Moriarty; Noëlle Harrison; Catherine Foley; Kristan Higgins; Carol George; Kristin Gill; Felicity O’Connor; Sister Margaret Mary Murphy; Sister Mary Mercer; Karen O’Connor; Bart Meldau; Milly Meldau; Karen Wilson; Peter Ritchie; Susan Owens; Rachel Leamy; Jean Grimes; John Neville; Una Collins and Triona Collins.

My special thanks to Austin O’Neill, Lee O’Neill and their cousin Dylan Smith.

Big thanks to my publishers: everyone at Penguin Australia, especially Ali Watts, Saskia Adams, Gabrielle Coyne, Louise Ryan, Peter Blake, Daniel Ruffino, Sally Bateman, Felicity Vallence, Andre Sawenko, Rachel Tys, Deb Billson, Tony Palmer and Cathy Larsen; the Pan Macmillan team in the UK and Ireland, especially Trisha Jackson, Jeremy Trevathan, Helen Guthrie, Thalia Suzuma, David Adamson, Michelle Taylor, Ellen Wood, Alex Martin-Verdinos and Rebecca Ikin; and all at Ballantine and Random House in the USA, with particular thanks to Jennifer Smith, Jane von Mehren, Lisa Barnes and Kathleen McAuliffe.

Warmest thanks to my agents: Jonathan Lloyd and Kate Cooper at Curtis Brown in London; Fiona Inglis, Grace Heifetz and all at Curtis Brown Australia; Christy Fletcher, Grainne Fox and Mink Choi at Fletcher & Co in New York; and Anoukh Foerg in Germany.

Once again, huge thanks to my sister Maura for her speed-reading, eagle eye, insights and encouragement; to my two families: the Drislanes in Ireland and the McInerneys in Australia; and to my husband John, for everything.