I want to thank my friend Dominic Armstrong for his expert collaboration in writing about the business and financial aspects of this story.

I am also grateful to John Rogerson for his help with some of the legal questions brought up by the plot of this novel.

I want to thank Monica Carmona for drawing my attention to the Hogarth Shakespeare series and Juliet Brooke for her excellent editing once I was invited to be a part of it.

I would also like to thank Jane Longman and Francis Wyndham for continuing to be my first and most encouraging readers.