Researching the historical context of this story was a fascinating task. Particularly helpful regarding the women’s liberation movement in French-speaking Switzerland was Julie de Dardel’s book Révolution sexuelle et Mouvement de libération des femmes à Genève (1970–1977) and the documentary Debout! by Carole Roussopoulos. My research into the history of child placements in Switzerland was informed by an exhibition in Le Locle in 2017 and the book Enfants placés, enfances perdues by Marco Leuenberger and Loretta Seglias. Thank you to Loretta for meeting with me and answering the many extra questions I had. For the book’s UK narrative, Liz Hodgkinson’s Ladies of the Street: The Women who Transformed Journalism helped me understand the experience of women in Fleet Street before, during and after the 1970s. Thanks also to Shirley Conran for allowing me to use quotes from her era-defining book Superwoman.
When I first started writing this novel it felt a complete pipe dream for it to be published. This wouldn’t have happened without my brilliant agent Hayley Steed, who plucked my submission out of her inbox and was so passionate about the story right from the beginning. Thank you so much to Hayley for making this happen, and to the whole team at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency for their support. Huge thanks to my editor, Bec Farrell, whose advice has been so insightful, and everyone at Simon & Schuster UK for their enthusiasm and hard work. Thanks also to Julia Weber, whose magical tips on cover letters made all the difference.
I am so grateful to my first readers and wonderful friends Emma Hartwell and Mari ‘rhymes with Barry’ Campbell, for their support, encouragement and reassurance, especially Emma for managing to remain enthusiastic after reading three different drafts. Thank you to Michaela Dignard and Sylvia Koller for understanding where I’m coming from, to Pat Hartwell, Michèle Laird, Rachel Bender, Heather Radmore, Sarah Radmore Seiler, Anne Delaney and Diccon Bewes for their thoughtful feedback at different points in the process, and to everyone else who has encouraged me along the way, particularly Clare Nicholls, without whom I wouldn’t be living in Switzerland today, and Claire Doble, for all those lonely writer catch-ups.
Thank you to Matt Radmore for always encouraging me to do what I want and believing in my ability to do it, even when I’m not sure of it myself. And, of course, for persuading me to move to Switzerland – I’m very glad I did. To my dad, Graham, for inspiring me to write fiction and demonstrating how to engineer the work-life balance that makes it possible – you are the best example to follow. To my sister, Steph, who can always be relied upon to tell me the absolute honest truth about my writing (and everything else, come to think of it), and to my niece Melina, for putting a smile on all our faces. Lastly, thank you to my mum, Joan, for being my fiercest champion. I was so lucky to have you and I miss you every day.