ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Martha Ludigo-Nyenje for being my first reader and for those first six months in Manchester; Nicole Thiara for reading all the versions of my manuscripts; Commonword/Cultureword’s Pete Kalu for the writing group; Martin De Mello, for giving so much more than I can ever give back; the Department of English and Creative Writing, University of Lancaster, for the continuous support; the Literary Consultancy, for Sara Maitland and for Jacob Ross; Kwani?, for the brilliant idea of a manuscript project and for giving this novel a chance; Kate Haines for holding my hand; Geoff Ryman for that letter; James Macdonald Lock-hart for giving me a chance; Ellah Wakatama Allfrey for the eagle eyes and for getting more out of me than I thought possible, I was lucky to work with you; Vimbai Shire, thank you; MMU Special Collections for the gem; the City of Manchester for the libraries—don’t close them please—Damian Morris for indulging me and for not saying, “What?” when I talk to myself.

And thank you, Jordan Bamundaga, for putting up with a part-time mum.