My warmest thanks are due to the many friends who have answered questions and listened patiently while I’ve reminisced at length about the sixties, and it’s been a delight to share memories with Sheran Hornby, Gloria Romanoff and Eileen Ford. Particular thanks, too, to Dorothy Wolfe, whose friendship and supportive help over the years has been invaluable I have leaned on two other friends most especially, over this book, and owe them the greatest debt of gratitude: John Sullivan, without whose support and forensic interest I would have lost much of my nerve, and Eileen Powers, whose colourful inside knowledge of the Hamptons and Long Island has been such a joy. Two wonderful sounding boards.
Huge thanks too, to New York interior designer, Jennifer Powers, and Angelica Kavouni of Cosmetic Solutions in London, both geniuses in their respective fields, for their expert advice so freely given. I would like to thank Charles Villiers for generously bidding at a fundraising event to name a character in this book. He chose the name of a distinguished, but unsung ancestor of his, Charles Palmer, whose fictional recreation I sincerely hope doesn’t let the side down.
Heartfelt thanks, as ever, to my editor, Suzanne Baboneau, to whom I owe so much, not least for her warm encouragement and unfailingly all-seeing eye, and my magnificent agent, Michael Sissons, without whose sagacity and guiding hand I would be adrift. A special thank you, too, to Fiona Petheram at PFD and the terrific team at Simon & Schuster for all their support.
The patience of my family leaves me in awe. I love you all; I am lost in gratitude. You make everything possible.