Somewhere at the back of my neck a faint prickling persists, but I refuse to turn around, refuse to look back. With one hand, I take hold of Leo’s, the other I slip through Bea’s arm, and together we head for the swings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m incredibly grateful to the team at Lake Union for their professionalism and creativity. Thanks to my Lake Union editor Victoria Pepe, editorial director Sammia Hamer, marketing guru Bekah Graham, the ever-patient Nicole Wagner, and Christiana Demetriou in production. The book’s jacket was masterminded by senior art director Liron Gilenberg, and the team at Brilliance oversaw the audiobook production.
Special thanks to Sophie Wilson, editor extraordinaire, whose input into this book I cannot overstate; thank you for the brainstorms, the invaluable suggestions, the careful reads and the cheerleading. You have been transformative, yet again.
Fellow authors never cease to amaze me with their generosity. Thanks to Adam Kay for the medical advice and Clare Mackintosh for insights into police procedure. Any mistakes are entirely my own.
My thanks to Ruth Jones and Rachel Joyce for the book chats, life chats and everything in between. Thanks to Katie Leah and Georg Ell for the dinners, the laughs and the VR expeditions to Antarctica. And eternal thanks to my mum and stepdad, Tania and Jerry Bowler, for their boundless love, encouragement and pride in everything I do. Jerry: you are the stepfather （and grandfather） I always hoped we’d have in our lives. Thank you for bringing such love into my mum’s life and such kindness, generosity and care to the whole of our family. Mum: thank you for always being on the other end of the phone, for your endless support and for yet another superlative proofread.
Beginning to write a new novel during a pandemic was never going to be ideal timing, so my deepest thanks, as ever, are to the only people with whom I could spend months trapped inside a house and yet still love them more at the end of it; Adam and Aurelia, I know we always say that there’s no such thing as perfection, but our trio comes pretty close. Thank you for being my perfect family.