Thank you to everyone at Hardie Grant Egmont for giving this series wings, especially Marisa Pintado, Luna Soo, Haylee Collins and Penelope White for looking after Ottilie so very well.
A huge thank you to the outrageously talented Maike Plenzke and Jess Cruickshank for another magnificent cover, and to Emma Schwarcz for helping this story shine.
To my whole family, thank you for cheering so loudly.
Trish, I am ever grateful for the life rafts. Thank you for spreading the story far and wide.
A special thank you to both of my wonderful grandparents – your encouragement means everything.
I have the most supportive parents on the planet. Mum and Dad, I don’t deserve you and I can’t ever thank you enough.
Catrin, thank you for passing out books at the pub and fizzing with enthusiasm, even when I’m being a monosyllabic ghoul.
I have to thank my extraordinary friends, Zoe and Holly, for shouting support across this maddening distance, and Oran, for brightening my days and handing out books like candy.
Lastly, Lu, your brilliance never ceases to inspire me. Thank you for holding me up when my bones go bendy.