Writing books is hard. A few thanks are due to my own Dogs, who dragged me along when I wanted nothing more than to run away.
At Head of Zeus, Anthony and Nicolas Cheetham first trusted me to write the Essex Dogs trilogy. Bethan Jones, Richenda Todd and Laura Palmer have helped me develop it editorially and taught me so much about writing fiction. Peyton Stableford has kept me pointing in the right direction. Dan Groenewald and his sales, publicity and marketing teams have taken the Dogs to a wider audience than I ever imagined possible. Thanks also to Terezia Cicel and her colleagues at Viking in New York for believing that Loveday, Romford and co. could break America.
Ash Fields created incredible character art that has changed the way I think about the Dogs.
Walter Donohue has read every word of everything I’ve ever written and made all of it better.
Over the years a number of friends have been either open, enthusiastic or just uncomplaining about reading/discussing Essex Dogs works in progress: Shane Batt, Ed Caesar, Honor Cargill-Martin, Leon Carter, Sara Cockerill, Julia Dietz, Daisy Dixon, Rick Edwards, Rob Fellows, Wayne Garvie, Blake Gilbert, Emma Gregory, Elodie Harper, Duff McKagan, Oliver Morgan, David Morton, Jonathan Phillips, Leona Powell, Kristen Rizzo, Sam Simpson and Paul Wilson, thank you for your service.
Michael Livingston, Kelly DeVries and Clifford Rogers were so generous in sharing their published and unpublished work and helping me navigate the scholarly material around Calais.
I am extremely grateful to Rich Machin and the estate of Mark Lanegan for permitting me with such grace to turn excerpts of the song I Am The Wolf into a medieval earworm. Thanks also to Duff and Brian Klein for helping make that connection. I hope Mark would have approved.
Special thanks Georgina Capel and Rachel Conway and all at GCA for everything, always.
And finally, boundless love to Jo, Violet, Ivy and Arthur Jones.
I do this for you.