ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sheila and Don Drummond gave me the best ever crash course on Melbourne and its suburbs, driving me everywhere, feeding me, and making me welcome and extremely comfortable in gorgeous, snowy Woodend.

Lorraine Haw provided me with information on emergency treatment and other medical issues.

The wonderful team at Pan Macmillan – Cate Paterson, Sarina Rowell and Jo Jarrah – kept me on track and comprehensible, and dealt with my work with professionalism and respect.

My family and my women friends are a source of constant support and great inspiration.

I thank you all.

Thanks too to Jenny Joseph for permission to use extracts from her poem ‘Warning’, © Jenny Joseph, Selected Poems, Bloodaxe, 1992.

Information on the Red Hat Society can be found at www.redhatsociety.com and there are several groups in Australia.