Loving thanks to my daughter Tabitha for her beautiful illustrations, my son Barnaby for his help with corrections and my wife Fiona for being a book widow with such good grace. To Hannah Black, Kate Parkin, Sevak Gulbekian and Jean Callanan, who cared enough to read the script and to make insightful and telling suggestions. I am more grateful than I can say. Heartfelt thanks to my starry agent Jonny Geller, who continues to support me and sell all around the world books which fit no category yet devised. Thanks, too, to everyone at Curtis Brown for being kind, supportive and thoughtful, but especially Kirsten Foster, Lisa Babalis, Melissa Pimentel, Kate Cooper and Eva Papastratis. At Quercus I’d like to thank roustabout Mark Smith, who has been a real pal; my mysterious and wise editor, Richard Milner; Iain Millar who has been ahead of the curve and key to the success of books there from the start; Josh Ireland who has been brilliant—tireless, deft and a joy to deal with throughout. Thank you to Roy Flooks for his excellent photographs of my rotting old books and Rich Carr for his brilliant design. Thank you, too, to my new American publishers, Judith Curr and Johanna Castillo at Atria, for their publishing flair and innovative and far-thinking philosophy.