I have been blessed with a wonderful team to help me create The Corset: my agent, Juliet Mushens; editors Alison Hennessey and Marigold Atkey, not forgetting their lovely assistants Callum Kenny and Lilidh Kendrick; David Mann in design; Janet Aspey in marketing and Philippa Cotton in publicity; plus a raft of hardworking copyeditors, proof-readers and behind-the-scenes magicians at Bloomsbury Raven. Thank you all, none of this would be possible without you.
On the personal front, a huge round of applause to my family and friends for supporting me through another year of author neurosis, in particular my husband Kevin, who always rescues me from the coal hole. Special thanks go to Louise Denyer for naming Wilkie the canary in a suitably Victorian manner.
I would like to give a mention to Jennifer Rosbrugh, whose online historical sewing class provided me with the theoretical knowledge of how to make a corded corset, even though I wasn’t brave enough to try the practical side! Also to Alison Matthews David for including a wealth of useful information in her wonderful book Fashion Victims, including the real life inspiration for what happened to Rosalind Oldacre.
Dorothea’s particular brand of phrenology is based on The Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology by O.S. and L.N. Fowler, with elements of Vaught’s Practical Character Reader. An excellent overview of the subject can be found at http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/
Finally, I would ask you to spare a thought for thirteen-year-old milliner’s apprentice Ann Nailor, whose real death in 1758 at the hands of a mother and daughter both named Sarah Metyard inspired Miriam’s story. Details of her case are on record in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey.