Four years ago, riding in a taxi with my agent before I’d even had a single book published, I told her that I wanted to write a love story. We were on our way to meet with my editor for my psychological thrillers, and the timing for a genre switch could not have been worse. I hazard a guess that not all agents would have reacted with such enthusiasm and encouragement, and so my first thank-you must, as always, go to Madeleine Milburn and her incredible team. You keep on making dreams come true. I couldn’t wish for a better team to represent me.
Thanks also go to Phoebe Morgan from Trapeze, who helped me craft the original book into something better still. I am indebted to you for your help and tireless effort in making this book what it is today. Also, to Lucia Macro at William Morrow for HarperCollins U.S., your enthusiasm for this novel blew me away. It is a joy to collaborate with you. And to all the other international editors who have shown faith in my work, I thank you for making me part of your journey. There are so many other people who play an important role in the publication of a novel, from assistants to typesetters to designers and publishers who all work to make it possible. Thank you to every one of you for the part you play in all this.
A very special thanks goes to friends and family who have encouraged and supported me along the way, especially to my people Stasinos, Theo, Themis, and Lelia; sometimes there are just no words. I’m grateful for you every day, and so proud of you all too.
But the biggest thanks this time must go to my father, who is no longer here to see this book achieve publication. However, he inspired this story in every possible way. Without him, and without the love he showed me throughout my life, it undoubtedly would never have been written. I wrote the first chapter during a seven-hour layover in Lithuania as the snow settled on the runway, waiting for a connecting flight that would take me to his bedside for the last time in his life. Perhaps this book was my way of keeping him here for just a little while longer, because I surely wasn’t ready to say goodbye when the time came. He would have found it particularly strange, I think, to imagine that he is behind the story in the pages of this book. He would have bloody loved the fact that I managed to get an Elvis Presley reference in there. That was one of his favorite things, along with lifeboats, toasted tea cakes, and a shiny grille on a classic car. He might be gone, but his memory lives on, and for that I am grateful every day.