Although in some ways you become more confident with old age – stop minding, for example, what other people think – in others you become less so. As I advanced through my nineties I became increasingly unsure of my own abilities. ‘Will you write another book?’ people asked, and the answer was I couldn’t. I still enjoyed writing and could easily bring off a book review or short article for a newspaper, but a book? No. The first person I have to thank in relation to Alive, Alive Oh! is Pru Rowlandson, a friend since I was first published by Granta, where she managed (as she still does) their publicity. I forget her exact words, but they amounted to ‘You could at least have a go at it.’ I suppose I could, thought I, so I did. Thank you, Pru.
Once a lot of written pages had appeared, doubt re-awoke. Could they be called a book? I needed the opinion of an outsider, someone book-wise but who didn’t know or care about me. Pru suggested Rebecca Carter. ‘Of course it’s a book,’ she said, ‘and I love it’ – which was a happy moment. She is now my agent. Thank you, Rebecca.
I must now confess that, having spent a working lifetime as a publisher’s editor, I had never supposed that I myself might need an editor. There was a moment, after Granta had made an offer for Alive, Alive Oh! when – I blush to remember this – I bristled slightly at the suggestion that Bella Lacey should edit it. What I had forgotten during my post-publishing years was that the one person who really loves a good editor is – the author! Here is someone giving your precious book one hundred per cent of expert attention (something, believe it or not, very few books ever get however popular they become) and who is doing so in order to discover those moments (few you hope, but there are always some) when it happens to fall just a little short of your intention. Her or his job is to make your book even more yours (I have said we are speaking of a good editor). Thank you, Bella.
Whatever happens to this book in the future, the above three people made the writing of it a great pleasure.