Writing is a solitary pastime, but a book needs a team behind it. Black Thorn owes much to my champion editor Vicki Mellor and the wider Pan Mac family, including Neil Lang who designed the perfect cover, and Josie Turner and Laura Sherlock who plotted its launch into the world. I was blessed by a brace of ideal agents in Jane Gregory and Veronique Baxter. As a sensitivity reader, Hayley Webster is without peer. For their friendship, warmth and wisdom, I thank Alison Graham, Erin Kelly, Jane Casey, Paddy Magrane, Andrew Taylor, Mick Herron and Jo Howard, Julie Akhurst and Stephen Brown, Alyson Shipley, Michelle Buckeridge, Fiona Cummins, Anna Britten and Lydia Downey. Still more thanks to my mother, and to my siblings and their partners. My son, Victor, who was the first to support my idea for this book, remains an inspiration. Lindsay Jackson, co-founder of Ledburied, deserves a special mention. As do all the booksellers, librarians, reviewers, bloggers, festival organizers, interviewers and podcasters who work behind the scenes to get books like Black Thorn into the hands of readers. Without readers, writing would be a very lonely business indeed.