As Lou would say, this isn’t the Oscars — but there are a number of people I need to thank.
Firstly, my agent, Vicki Marsdon, without whose encouragement, belief and occasional hand-holding there wouldn’t be a book at all.
Thank you to everyone at HarperCollins Australia and William Morrow in the US who took a chance on Not Bad People when it was only a few chapters old. A special thank you to Catherine Milne for all her insightful advice and support while I was writing, and to Carrie Feron for her enthusiasm. I’m also extremely grateful to the many talented people inside those publishing houses — copy editors, designers, publicists, sales — who’ve done so much to get this book on the shelf, especially Scott Forbes.
Outside the publishing world, so many people have been amazingly generous with their time and knowledge.
Thanks to Nick Humphrey for his legal expertise, and to my pilots Andrew MacKenzie, Nathan Muller, Russell Jenkins, Robert Ball, Charlie McQuillen and Lynne and Paul Napier. While I have at points wilfully ignored their advice for the sake of plot and characterisation, it’s all hugely appreciated. It goes without saying that any mistakes are mine alone. More on that below!
Thank you to Dr Stephanie Kerr for patiently answering a million medical questions; Dr Jacques Kobersy; Nurse Emma Hedges; the Victorian Law Reform Commission; Josh Collard at the ASX; the helpful folk at CASA for giving me my own plane registration number; Morgan Lonergan for steering me right on superyachts; the talented Ebony Lamb of Eb & Sparrow for allowing me to borrow a line from one of her songs; and Dr David Lee for advising me on what might be going on in Aimee’s head. Again, all errors are mine.
As part of the research for this novel, I spent a thoroughly enjoyable month driving around country Victoria hanging out at wineries. (Top tip: always set a book somewhere with great food and drink.) Thank you to all the winemakers who so patiently answered my questions: Julian and Adam Castagna of Castagna Vineyard; Barry and Jan Morey at Sorrenberg; Ben Clifton at Amulet Wines; Daniel Balzer at Willem Kurt Wines; the team at Morrison’s Winery (Moama); and the lovely Deborah at Munari Wines, who didn’t know it but gave me Aimee’s sheep. Also Praew Jitjuajun and the team at Ford who kindly provided the wheels for my road trip.
Thank you to my first readers and sounding boards — Fionna Cumming, Jennifer Boddicker, Bron Colgan, Sonia Kerrigan and Craig Gamble — who must all be completely sick of this book by now. Special mention must go to the real Sharna, Sharna Benton, who spent a year answering ridiculous questions about speedcamera positions in country Victoria.
Despite all this fantastic expertise, there are things in this book that are not true to life. I’ve taken a number of liberties, especially with the roles and procedures of the police and the ATSB, in order to keep the timeline and number of characters tight. I’ve also made them quite unprofessional in places — sharing confidential reports! Interviewing traumatised people in hospital! — which I hope casts no shade on their organisations. It’s certainly not intended to. This is fiction, and a book about people behaving themselves — Very Good People — would be dull indeed.
On a personal note, I have to also thank my employers and cohosts for being so tolerant over the past year while my head has been in this book; the International Institute of Modern Letters for such a good grounding on the how-to-write-a-novel front; and my whole family — mum, dad, sister, brother-in-law, stepmother — for the pep talks and unflagging support. I can’t overstate how much I appreciate my parents making books such a big part of my life. I can’t order a pizza without opening the front door to check what number I live at, but I still remember my childhood library card number. On that note, a big shout-out to all the amazing library spaces, from Echuca to Bendigo, that this book was written in. Libraries rock.