My love and gratitude to my husband, Alwyn Blayse, and my son, Flynn, for your immense talent, love, good spirits and general hilarity. You make everything worth it.
To my furry children who sat by my side with every word. The dogs: my gorgeous golden angel, Goldie, so fiercely loved and still so shockingly missed; Daisy dog, whose smile lights up the world; and the smallest of the canines, Molly (Cyrus), who came in like a wrecking ball and we’re all the better for it. The fantabulous felines: Princess Jasmine, whose drool has been the glue for my bum to my seat, and whose parting was somewhat expected yet still so very painful; Sapphina Ballerina, for dancing crazily across our keyboards and hearts; and Bucket Man, for being the hugest Bucket of Love in the universe. The horses for grounding me to the earth every day (and especially the dark and dashing Lincoln, after whom our hero is named). And the goats for drinking tea and sharing cupcakes and never once compromising standards by eating a single weed like you were supposed to.
Clay Gordon, creator of The Chocolate Life, and all-round expert on everything to do with cacao and chocolate, for the inspiring podcasts, the wealth of written information, and infectious enthusiasm about the business of cacao from tree to mouth. Your knowledge and passion is so contagious I now wish to write ten books on cacao.
Kate Smibert for being such an integral support and guiding force in my writing life—I am so blessed to have you as my friend. Kathleen Lamarque for your great friendship, sense of humour, photographs and style, for answering endless questions about Paris and Provence and packing relevant scenes into your bag for a quick trip to France (though I want to stress that any errors or letdowns are entirely my fault), and to Philippe, Hugo and Margot for the same.
To my publisher, Annette Barlow, for your always-brilliant editing advice, Clara Finlay for adding so much value to the text (what a star!), Kate O’Donnell for guiding my words so carefully to the page, and the whole Allen & Unwin (Australia, NZ and UK) team for the hundreds of things I know you do (but generally don’t get to see) to get my books out into the world. And my agent, Fiona Inglis, and the whole Curtis Brown Australia team for your support.
I was inspired by Chantal Coady’s book Rococo: Mastering the Art of Chocolate, and Shannon Bennett’s 28 Days in Provence. Impressions of your recipes are found in this book. Likewise, The Chocolate Tree: A Natural History of Cacao, by Allen M. Young, is a now well-thumbed botany resource and helped me bring Lincoln van Luc to life. And A Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away, by John Ashton and Suzy Ashton, was just too wonderful to read—I always knew chocolate was good for you!
Thank you to Terese and Gerard Puglisi at Sweet Farm Tours in Cairns for so graciously allowing me to interrupt your cane harvest and ramble through your acres of cacao trees, cut open pods and taste the flesh and the seeds; and thank you Luis Felipe Valencia, Consul General of Ecuador in Sydney, for answering questions about Ecuador—I wrote so many scenes set in Ecuador that didn’t make it into the final draft but they’re there in the background; Phil Boyle for listening to my wild botany fantasy of an undiscovered miracle bean and finding a way to make it plausible; my dad, Brian, and my stepmother, Pamela, for sharing your gorgeous cottage and so much of Tasmania with me, and for willingly daydreaming about the Apple Isle with me at any other time; and Jane Shaw from Ingleside Bakery for sharing such vivid and funny anecdotes of what it’s like to run a business in the town of Evandale.
To my mum, Geraldine, and my sister, Amanda, for accepting my shortfalls when my mind was elsewhere engaged; and Amanda, again, for suffering through the gruelling chocolate-making boot camp with me.
Lastly, thank you to all my readers for joining my characters on these fun journeys. You’re the reason mine is the best job in the world.