Thanks as always to the team at Head of Zeus for their continued help in bringing George Cross to a wider readership. Bethan Jones for her encouragement, perceptive notes and always being on hand to talk. Peyton Stableford, Andrew Knowles, Polly Grice, Ben Prior, Matt Bray, Emily Champion, Nikky Ward and Daniel Groenewald for all being an important part of Team George. Lucy Ridout for her great notes and invaluable suggestions. My social media team Sarah Oldman and Lilly Hill for their wonderfully inventive posts. Emma Finnigan, my PR, for doing her best not to take ‘no’ for an answer from people.
I feel it incumbent upon me to make it clear that the experiences I have drawn on in this novel are based on my time at my first prep school and not at Clifton College or prep where things were quite different and I was happy. I still find it unbelievable and inexcusable what happened to me and my contemporaries in a quiet corner of Somerset many years ago. The writing of this novel has been surprisingly cathartic.
To my wife Rachel, thank you for putting up with the writer in the attic, and my daughters Bella and Sophia, for supporting their crazy old man in his literary endeavours.
Finally, to all my readers. Thank you for getting in touch. Hearing from you and reading your affection for George makes the whole endeavour worthwhile on a daily basis.