There are many thankyous to be said, so thank you Catherine Milne, for seeing something a long time ago in those early drafts and encouraging me with sage advice. Thank you William Verity, friend and fellow traveller, for reading a very early draft and telling me there was a small glimmer of hope on page twelve. Huge thank you Ruth Quinn, dear friend and wise counsellor, you have been with me all the way on this journey with your warmth and insight, reading and listening and making me scones and tea. Thank you to the lovely Pippa Masson and Grace Heifetz, from Curtis Brown, Australia. You have been fabulous all the way through and I am very grateful to have you in my corner. Thank you to Jane Palfreyman from Allen & Unwin for your wisdom and insight and belief in this book. Thank you Ann Lennox for all your help and advice. To my tall beautiful children, Isaac, Freya and Bede, thank you for the noise, the biscuits, the arguments and the silliness. Thank you for helping me with some of those lines, you know the ones. Thank you to all my friends and family for encouraging me to finish this book before the next millennium. Thank you to Bill, my dearly dearly beloved. You have lived with ghosts and poets for so long, and you have supported me with every word of this book. I couldn’t have done this without you.