Acknowledgements

With heartfelt thanks for the original edition to: Jonathan Wooding, who ensured my literary tie was straight and my grammatical flies were done up; to Colin Smythe for invaluable experience and advice; David Wendl-Berry for introducing me to the land; Simon Appleby, Mathew Riley and Lee Casey for Reanimating Horror; Bill Hussey for keeping it that way; Katherine Josselyn for weathering endless requests; Simon Petherick for being a gentlemen of the old school variety; Anthony Nott for ideas incorporated in this work; technician Rob Formby who knows what he’s talking about when it comes to landfill; and especially to Karaoke Pete for helping to restart the stalled project that eventually became this novel.

More personally, very special thanks to the Independent Midwives Association - particularly Jane Buckler and Sue Kinross for guiding us through the birth of our child in the middle of all of this.

For this new edition, I’m very grateful to all at Oak Tree Press, particularly Matt, Nick, Joe, Sara and Paul. Their combined efforts have reincarnated this novel and given it immense new energy. Thanks also to Michelle Finlay for being so sharp-eyed and pernickety about commas.

Most importantly, I want to shout out loud the name of my agent, Brie Burkeman. None of the wonderful things that have happened since summer 2012 would have been possible without her. Whoever she’s working for isn’t paying her enough...