I would like to thank the incredible team at Hot Key, for all their work to make the Iremonger series possible. I am extremely fortunate to have had the help of Sara O’Connor who started the whole thing off, Jan Bielecki for making these books look so smart, and for the sharp eyes and great wisdom of Jenny Jacoby. Tracy Carns has championed the Iremongers in the US for Overlook Press and she’s been very wonderful, as has Hadley Dyer for HarperCollins in Canada. I cannot thank Grasset and Pierre Demarty enough for welcoming Les Ferrailleurs to France, and Elisabetta Sgarbi at Bompiani in Italy has kept faith in me over so many years that I owe her a very great debt. These brilliant people have been essential in getting this trilogy out in the world: Louise Brice, Alba Donati, Midori Furuya, Allyssa Kasoff, Emma Matthewson, Olivia Mead, Sergio Claudio Perroni, Jet Purdie, Alice Seelow, Michael Taeckens, Josie Urwin and Tom Witcomb.
I am very indebted to the early readers of this book: Jenny and Emma, the extraordinary Margo Rabb who read it with such brilliance and at no notice whatsoever, and Isobel Dixon – who has been with me from the start of my writing career, is an amazing agent, a dear friend, and is the reader every writer would dream of. Last of all, and most of all, I would like to thank my wife Elizabeth and my children, Gus and Matilda, who keep me going and who are very marvellous.