When I embark on writing a book I am always unprepared for how long it is going to take and how incredibly lost I am about to become. I don’t plan, which means I can spend many days on a path that is about to go nowhere. I have to thank Jacky Bateman for pointing out the folly of many a wrong turn. We have worked together for over twelve years and she has ironed my rumpled, misspelled words and turned them into clean manuscripts. I want to thank my agent, Catherine Clark, for her love and support, and Fiona Kennedy, one of the best editors I have ever worked with. It has been a joy to do this book with her. Enormous thanks to Jade Gwilliam in publicity, to Helen Crawford-White for the cover art, to Peter Avery for his inspiration and to all the sales reps who go out to sell a book at a time when book shops and libraries are fast fading away. Finally, I want to thank Anthony Cheetham for starting an incredible children’s list. A book involves so much more than the author to make it a success.
Sally Gardner
Hastings
July 2019
