ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I can remember exactly when I thought of the idea for this book—it was on 7th February 2020, during my last trip to the cinema before the UK was locked down to protect against COVID-19. The film was Parasite, and it was followed by a Q&A with director Bong Joon-ho and star Song Kang-ho, accompanied by translator Sharon Choi. It got me thinking about the future of translation as a job, and whether technology would ever replace it entirely, and what circumstances might make that impossible. I pitched the novel a month later.

I then spent much of the next year shielding from the pandemic on medical advice, and my family were often in the house with me all day, doing their work and schooling online, unable to go out and see anyone else. Writing a book is always an intense experience and this made it even more so. So I’m incredibly grateful to Catherine Spooner, Gabriel Robson Spooner, and Jago Robson Spooner for giving me the space to do it under circumstances that were very challenging for us all.

Thanks also to my editor, Lee Harris, and to everyone at Tordotcom; to Henry Sene Yee for his wonderful cover; to Mark Clapham, James Cooray Smith, and Lance Parkin; and to Mum, Dad, and Helen.