Thank you to my agent Elizabeth Sheinkman and my editor Helen Garnons-Williams for their encouragement, advice and enthusiasm. Thank you to everyone at Bloomsbury. Thank you to Jon McGregor for all the support he has given my writing; Ellie Roberts for the excellent and thorough notes on how to butcher a deer; Emma Bird for her memories of back boilers; Guy Bower for reading an early version; and Mum for patiently reading all my drafts. Thank you to Ben for everything.