ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My heartfelt thanks to: Gabrielle Stubbs, whose loving care continues to sustain me; to the friends who encourage me, in particular: Alan Cowell and Sue Cullinan; the Orr family and the staff at Jinchini, Kenya; Peter Chappell; Chris and Janet Sherwell; Quentin and Mary Peel; the late J. D. F. Jones; and Ann Grant; Dr Patricia Limousin and her colleagues at London’s National Hospital for Neurology; Hugh Andrew and Neville Moir at Polygon, my publisher and editor respectively; Judy Moir, whose sharp editing spotted errors and inconsistencies – those that remain are mine; Michela Wrong and John Githongo, who have long been my guides to the “real” Kuwisha; and I am indebted to my god-daughter Lilly Peel, who braved my bad temper to perform wonders; and to Sandy McCall Smith for his long-time support. Above all, I am grateful to my inspirational and indefatigable mother who has lived through a revolution in Africa.

Rye Barcott and Salim Mohamed continue to bring hope to the children who live in an all-too-real Kireba (http://cfk.unc.edu/).

The land of Kuwisha and the characters in this novel are the products of my imagination. Nearly everything else is true.