ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like, as always, to thank my agent, Ian Drury, at Sheil Land Associates; I wrote this book over four summers and the encouragement he gave me in the third of those summers when I was in the depths of writer’s despair was invaluable. My thanks also go to Gaia Banks and Melissa Mahi in the foreign rights department. My best wishes for you in your new job, Melissa.

Thank you to everyone at Atlantic/Corvus, especially Sara O’Keeffe and Will Atkinson and their continued support for my books. Also thanks to Louise Cullen, Alison Davies and Lucy Howkins, to name but a few, for all their work on my behalf.

Thanks again to Tamsin Shelton for doing such a thorough copy edit and wheedling out all those little gremlins that my eyes just can’t see.

Finally, thank you to the two people who always come along with me for the ride: you, dear reader, and my lovely wife, Anja.