Acknowledgements

For reading that first line in 2017 and telling me to keep going, thank you Devi Joshi.

For the edits and guidance, thank you to the teachers and students at Manchester’s Centre for New Writing 2016–2019.

For reading my manuscript in July 2020, thank you Maya and Zoe Mahoney, Anne Marie Ryan, Isaac Layton and Haraman Johal.

Thank you to my agent, Laurie Robertson, for taking a chance on this book in October 2020 and for all your help since.

To my teacher and editor, Luke Brown, thank you for encouraging me to send out my first story in 2018, thank you for publishing my first collection in 2022. Your edits transformed this book and I’m forever grateful.

Thank you, Hannah Westland, Graeme Hall, Peter Dyer, Anna-Marie Fitzgerald, Flora Willis, Mila Melia-Kapoor, Angana Narula, Fiona Brown and the team at Serpent’s Tail for all your work and support.

For that last minute edit in September 2021, thank you Ravi Mahey.

For a mix of the above and so much more, thank you Sophie Whitehead, Holly Stott and Aashfaria Anwar.

For making this all possible, thank you, Mum, Dad, Nani Ji, Nana Ji, Bibi Ji and Baba Ji.