Just as the first 2020 pandemic lockdown began I realized, with a rising panic, I had taken some wrong turns with the plot of this story. But thankfully my fantastic agent, Clare Wallace, and brilliant editors, Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker, deftly steered me along the right path and the story I wanted to tell began to emerge. Huge thanks to you all for believing in me and for your support – this book wouldn’t exist without you!

Thank you to the Usborne marketing and publicity team and Fritha Lindqvist for promoting and publicizing this book so brilliantly. The cover art and illustrations are joyful and it was wonderful to see my home town of Bury St Edmunds being brought to life – thank you Kath Millichope, Sarah Cronin and Saara Katariina Söderlund for your incredible work.

I’m very grateful to the people at The Athenaeum (the Subscription Rooms) in Bury St Edmunds for giving me a guided tour of its Victorian observatory, and to the current occupiers of Cupola House, Sakura Japanese Restaurant, who kindly gave me access to the magnificent rooftop cupola which inspired the story.

Thank you to each and every writer, author, book blogger and promoter, teacher, librarian, journalist and bookseller who have championed my books. You are a lovely, supportive bunch and this writing lark wouldn’t be half as fun without your friendship. Thanks also to the wonderful Usborne Books at Home team who have helped promote and sell my books – you’re all marvellous!

Finally, a massive thanks to my family and friends, especially my endlessly supportive husband Jeremy for picking up my typos and terrible grammar. Mum and Dad, this book is dedicated to you. I very naughtily ripped up the books on your shelves when I was small, but you still managed to grow in me a love of reading and writing for which I will be forever grateful.