ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Not so long ago I had the great pleasure to make the acquaintance of Mr. Ian Chapman. Initially we met by phone and discussed work that needed both of our attention. After concluding our business we talked of the world and of literature and many other things.

What I remember most is how easily the conversation flowed and how much laughter was exchanged on the overseas line, almost as if we had known each other for years. At one point Ian told me how much he liked my last book and asked if I was working on anything presently. After explaining a book of essays, he asked if he could read one. I forwarded two and, in what seemed like less than a day, I heard back from an enthusiastic Ian, telling me how much he liked the work and that he would like to read more. From that day Ian, head of Simon & Schuster UK, has championed my work and me and I am profoundly grateful.

Ian’s enthusiasm was passed on to his colleague Ms. Lou Johnson, head of Simon & Schuster Australia, and after my arrival in Australia for other publishing matters, it was Ms. Johnson who championed the work and extended such warm and kind hospitality that even now when I think of her and her husband Douglas and her two daughters Ella and Ruby who have the ‘special words’ it brings a smile to my face. Ms. Johnson and her remarkable colleagues in Australia as well as Ian’s in London have left me dazed, and wondering how I got so lucky.

I also wish to thank Ms. Suzanne Baboneau, Simon & Schuster UK, for her gracious hospitality, kind words and enthusiasm for my work. In a changing world where professionalism is often just a word, Mr. Chapman, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Baboneau have reminded me what a publisher looks and sounds like and what they do. As I have said, I am lucky not only to have been embraced by such professionals but also to be able to call them my friends.

My luck has continued by having Ms. Jessica Leeke as my editor. At first I was taken aback by someone who looked nineteen years of age, wondering how she could possibly understand the things I was writing about, but quickly came to realize after a few of her suggestions that I was talking and working with a very talented individual who cared deeply for my words and exercised great care in their editing. Unbelievably, my editor in Australia, Ms. Roberta Ivers, was another person who cared deeply about what I was writing and took great care, with her extensive expertise, to help my book be the best it could be, for which I am very grateful.

I also want to thank Mr. Rahul Srivastava, head of Simon & Schuster in India, and his staff, for their courtesy and hospitality.

I wish to thank the wonderful poet and publisher at Gallimard, Mr. Louis Chevallier, for championing my work in France. Thanks to Col. Graham Cundy, Royal Marines, Special Forces, and to everyone at the British Library, in particular Ms. Carole Holden, Mr. John Falconer and Ms. Sarah Frankland, who weathered many of ‘our’ storms yet still managed to care for our work in a way that made Kris and I very happy. To Michel and Dominique who always had fresh flowers on the bar in Paris and to Serge and Gerrard Tafane at the Rotonde.

Quite simply, I would not be here today if not for the following people and try as I might I shall never be able to thank them properly. The dark days of Kris’ illness even now are hard for me to comprehend, for the horror of what took place over a number of years did finally break me and it was only because of the following people that I managed to survive. This is in no way overstatement, merely a statement of fact.

To Lynn Badertscher, who was Kris’ old dear friend and then became mine and was always there, and Tanya Johnson and Wendy Ellis-Smith. I simply have no words. Thank you to Jean O’Brien and Elizabeth Schneider, Donna Nico and Beverla Miles. To the kind and gentle Alan Lewis and to Kati Lewis, who wrote me nearly every week during Kris’ extended illness, saving me from madness. Thank you for being there on Kris’ last day, Kati. Thanks to DeWitt Sage.

To Michael Palin, who has been so much more than a good and dear friend to Kris and I for many years and who, with his dear wife Helen, always made a place for us at their table. To Brian Spence who, after learning Kris was near the end, flew from Paris to be with her and me. To Peter Luff, who stayed close. To Dr. Peter English, who loved Kris and would never take a dime for her dental work nor for that matter mine. To Jerry Fielder, who would not allow me to face Kris’ last night alone, and to Daniel Campbell. To Ms. Barbara Stone, who always had tea waiting, Randell Bishop for his friendship and scones and to Hal Gurnee. To my dear friend Cary Porter, who has always been there. To Peggy Gotthold and Lawrence Van Velzer, Steve and Nancy Hauk, Enzo Pagano, and the ‘London gang’, who are Michael and Sarmi Lawrence, Denise Prior, Cherry Cole, Richard Fawkes, Julian Davies and Clare Gibson. To Dennis High and Jim and Gloria Dougherty. Much love and thanks to Patrick and Carol Hemingway, Don High, Eleanor Hardin and Douglas Hardin. To Jeff Wilson, Susan Moldow and others at Simon and Schuster US. To Don and Mary Wurtz and to Mary and Gerard Fort.

I would like to thank the people at Wilton’s in London, who have always made me feel welcome and were so very kind in helping Kris when she could no longer walk. It was a lovely afternoon and our last together in London. Finally, to Ms. Melissa Sullivan, who was kind and showed me that deep within the depths of another sea I could breathe.