I cannot imagine better publishers than Claire Craig (along with Julia Stiles, Samantha Sainsbury, Cate Paterson, Charlotte Ree and the others at Pan Macmillan) and Arthur Levine (with Emily Clement and everyone else at Scholastic). Working with people of such insight, acuity, flair and enthusiasm is an honour and a pleasure. Claire deserves special mention for her shining intelligence and warmth, and for coming up with the title, and Arthur’s editorial comments on the first draft of this novel were even more incisive and brilliant than usual.

I am equally grateful to my superb agents and friends, Tara Wynne and Jill Grinberg, and to Liane Moriarty, Nicola Moriarty, Rachel Cohn, Michael McCabe and Alistair Baillie who read and offered comments on early drafts.

Thank you so much to Elizabeth Pulie for her beautiful pictures of Cello, to Peter Hosking for his books about cellos, and to Marcin Wolski for teaching me the cello.

Thank you to Merilyn Simonds for describing greenhouse gardening, to Kim Broughton for sharing her books about colours, to Samantha Avery for reading and (partially) healing my aura, and to Paul at Maisys Café in Neutral Bay, for having my peppermint tea ready while I am still pushing open the glass door.

Adam Gatenby talked to me about farming life, and Alistair Baillie about physics, and I am very thankful to them both. (Here I should note that Adam considers farming in shifting seasons to be impossible, and that Alistair has similar doubts about colours taking on corporeal form.)

Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park kindly explained to me how they build their pyramid of pumpkins each year: it’s not the way that Elliot built his pyramid, but it definitely helped.

I am profoundly grateful to Libby and Henry Choo, Erin Shields, Jane Eccleston, Natalie Hazel, Jayne Klein, Andrew Broughton, Lukas Bower, Kim Broughton, Jonathan and Douglas Melrose-Rae, Stephen Powter, Melita Smilovic, Lesley Kelly, Michael McCabe, Rachel Cohn, Kate Manzo, Corrie Stepan, Elizabeth Pulie, Katrina Harrington, Fiona Ostric, and Bernard, Diane, Liane and Nicola Moriarty, for all the many and various ways that they have helped with the writing of this novel, and for being so extraordinary.

This book is dedicated to Charlie with love, and with thanks for the wild imagination and for being such a great kid.