Writing is a selfish job. Each morning I sit at my desk and busy myself with this and that, while waiting – sometimes for several hours – for the real world to fade and the fictional one to take over. And so it continues, month after month. At the best of times this can stretch the patience of all but the most saintly partners and children. This year was a tough one, with illness in the family, and I have never felt that tension between the fictional and real worlds more keenly. There was a long stretch of time during which I fantasized about having a mechanical, untaxing profession, which would allow my thoughts to remain with those closest to me. Thankfully the fantasy passed and I accepted that life simply conspires to test us in the most unexpected ways, and shuts down the escape routes while it’s at it. We are left with no choice but to keep on through the narrow tunnel until we reach the end, which, ultimately, is the best thing.
I want to say a heartfelt thank you to my editors, Maria Rejt and Sophie Orme, for cutting me all the slack I needed through a difficult time, and for being unfailingly kind, supportive and heroically elastic with the deadlines. My agent, Zoe Waldie, has also been a steady, understanding and reassuring presence throughout, for which I am hugely grateful. As always, the whole team at my publishers, Macmillan, has been a delight to work with. In particular, special thanks to Katie James, Geoff Duffield, Jodie Mullish and Will Atkins.
Lastly, thanks to my family for putting up with a husband and father who shuts himself in his study and mutters to himself all day, emerging only to tell bad jokes and eat all the biscuits. Couldn’t do it without you.
October 2013