I’d like to thank the people who made this book possible – many of whom have been on Archie’s journey with me from the beginning.
To Lindsay – my plotting companion and friend for all those ‘literary lunches’ at the Crown in Horsted Keynes, Red Lion at Chelwood Gate, Swan in Forest Row, and the rest.
My own Alchemists’ Club: the advance readers who reviewed the early chapters,
To Dan and Erin, whose enthusiasm for life is infectious and makes everything better.
To my nephew Harry, without whom Archie may never have seen the light of day.
To my agent Paul Moreton at Bell Lomax Moreton for his calm and always good humoured advice. To Jo Hayes who brought me to Faber & Faber and made it all possible. And to Eddie Bell who first saw potential in my writing.
To Leah Thaxton, my brilliant publisher and her fantastic team of editors at Faber: Alice Swan, who brought much-needed discipline and polish to my writing, to Natasha Brown for helping me juggle manuscripts and proofs and especially Naomi Colthurst who made writing Raven’s Spell such a pleasure.
And to everyone else at Faber – especially Hannah Love, for getting me some great publicity and events, and Lizzie Bishop and her foreign rights team who did such a fabulous job with the Archie series.
To James de la Rue, whose illustrations add so much to the Archie Greene books, and who excelled himself with this one.
To Maurice Lyon, my helpful and insightful copy editor throughout Archie’s adventures.
To Bryan – you know why. And to Ian for being there – always, and helping me make better decisions. And to Charlotte and Jane.
To Stuart and Ro for their support and (still) unwavering friendship.
To Sara for her editorial eye and unstinting encouragement.
Finally to my parents Peter Dearlove and Dorothy Dearlove (née Everest) for, well, everything.