When I set out to write about a post-pandemic dystopian world, the plan was to just visualise it, not to live it. I was happy to delve into the past, throw in some imagination and write a fictional story.
But the spirits of time decided to mix things up a bit. Sue and Rachel Bloomer had given me their comments and Leonora Bulbeck had just returned her excellent edits at the end of 2019, when we were thrown into the reality of a very real new contagion that would change all our priorities.
It took eight months, and the ever calm, clear and collected support of Katie Sadler, to make me go back and address the edits and reconnect with my characters and their story. I’m not sure if, or when, it would have happened otherwise.
I reread my script with trepidation — my perspective had shifted, but the story stood.
With the support and expertise of Rachael Mortimer, who proofread and gave invaluable feedback, and Rachel Lawston who designed a wonderful cover, it was ready to go!
I have been so fortunate to work with all these fabulous people, whose knowledge and professional skills elevated this book beyond anything I could have done without them.
Pre-pandemic, during the long writing process, my friend, Margaret Ring, listened to my many tangental thoughts on our laps around the Common — a combination of rambling and running.
Then there is my long-suffering family who have endured the distraction of a writer whose brain is in their book, rather than the real world. They have answered strange questions, given opinions (even if they were often thrown back in their faces, and then on calm reflection used anyway), and submitted to demands to ‘just read this bit quickly’ then handed fifty pages of script in the middle of their meal. Sean, Sam, Danny and Freddie have all lived through writing this book, especially as lockdown brought us all back into the home much more than would have happened otherwise.
My mother, Sue, spent a very, very large number of hours on the phone giving long-distance feedback at each stage. All writers should have someone they can call and talk about the merits of individual words in a sentence, and I am lucky to have a mum that fits that criteria.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to every one of you mentioned above, for making this book happen.
Thank you.