There are many, many people to thank for helping me with Words in Deep Blue. Thank you Catherine Drayton, my brilliant agent – without you, the book would not be finished. Thank you Claire Craig, my wonderful publisher – you read so many drafts, gave so much detailed feedback. Thank you Ali Lavau, Jodie De Vantier, and Georgia Douglas – my brilliant Australian editors. Thank you also to my brilliant US editors – Allison Wortche and Karen Greenberg, and the many, many other editors that read my manuscript. (More thanks to you to come in the US edition.)
Thank you Mel for my gorgeous cover. Thank you to the people at Midland for the typesetting and the design. Thanks to Alison Arnold, Emma Schwartz, Elizabeth Abbott, Diana Francavilla and Kirsten Matthews for your constant support and editing ears. Thank you to Gabriella for letting me use your desk that one time and Lewis and Harriet for inspiration. Thank you Fiona Wood, Simmone Howell and Gabrielle Wang for everything writing and friendship. Over the last five years, I have spoken to many young adults who have generously given advice and suggestions – thank you, all. Thanks to my family for advice and love, especially Esther, Charlie, Ella, Declan, Callum, Tom and Dan. Thanks to Michael Kitson – for advice about writing and bookshops, and for marrying me while I was in the midst of a writing muddle. Last, but not least, thanks to the booksellers – old and new – and thanks to writers, without whom the world would be a terrible place, bleak beyond imagining.