Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my partner, Greg, for his love and support, and for putting up with me during this (not easy, I know); and the rest of my family: Reece, Paige, Jaime, and my mother, Pam. Thank you to Graeme Simsion for restoring my confidence in my writing when all was lost; for reading early drafts; for your wisdom, honesty, and generosity; for being my sounding board and the voice of reason; for the walks and talks; and for always being only a phone call away, no matter where you were in the world (before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdown). Thank you to Fran Willcox for reading, being my shoulder to cry on (you know how many tears went into this), for your encouragement, and for helping me ‘keep on truckin’’ every time the wheels fell off. Thank you to Paige D’Arcy for helping to bring Aubrey to life. Thank you to Jaime D’Arcy for listening, and for your love, clever ideas, and singing in the car.

Thank you to my first readers and the experts who helped with advice on everything from firefighting, psychiatry, and severe burn injury to bonsai, Greek traditions, and art therapy: Jenny Green, Janice Simpson, Anita Smith, Paula Keogh, Anne Buist, Steve O’Malley, Michelle McSweeney, George Panagiotidis, Aoife Clifford, Jennifer Berlingieri, Danny Rosner-Blay, Sean Donovan, and Bonsai Kyogei. Thank you to Paul Taylor for planting the seed of the bonsai moss idea, and to Span Community House for the writing space.

Thank you to Scribe. Thank you to Sandy Cull for the awesome cover design. And last but certainly not least (like Heather Locklear in the credits of Melrose Place), a huge thank you to my editor, David Golding.