Then, huge thanks go to my glorious editors Martha Ashby and Pam Dorman, for your warmth, wit and wisdom. Did you both spring straight from Zeus’s head? Perhaps – and regardless, there’s no one I would rather discuss the merits of a fine beaver hat with. Thank you for everything you have done to make this book the best it can be. Thank you also to Chere Tricot, my fabulous copyeditor Charlotte Webb, and superb proofreaders Anne O’Brien and Kati Nicholl, for addressing my repetitions, deviations, excessive use of adverbs and keeping a weather eye on historical accuracy.
In the herculean task of publishing a book, my job is definitely the easiest, so thank you to the following people for everything they have done to get Lady’s Guide published, printed and on the shelves: massive thanks to the incomparable Lynne Drew, to the fabulously talented Fleur Clarke and Emma Pickard for all the stunning and creative marketing, to the outrageously charming Jaime Witcomb and Susanna Peden for the cracking PR campaign, to Caroline Young for the gorgeous jacket, to the brilliant Grace Dent, Dean Russell, Melissa Okusanya and Hannah Stamp for handling everything production and operations with such skill, to Fionnuala Barrett and Charlotte Brown for the sensational audiobook and to Izzy Coburn, Sarah Munro, Gemma Rayner, Ben Hurd and Fliss Porter on the sales team at HarperFiction and HarperCollins. You are unequivocally the best and I’m so very grateful for all your hard work.
Next, thanks must go to Fran Fabriczki, as none of this would have happened without our Sunday writing sessions. Thank you to my house/soulmates Freya Tomley and Juliet Eames, for always making me laugh and for taking my writing as seriously or as frivolously as I needed in any given moment. Thank you also to Fay Watson, Holly Winfield, Lottie Hayes-Clemens, Martha Burn and Tash Somi for being the best, loudest and funniest hype women in the business – I’m really glad we met.
To Lucy Stewart – who has the dubious privilege of hearing exactly every thought that passes through my head – thank you for the ping pong, the prosecco and God knows what else. To Ore Agbaje-Williams, Catriona Beamish, Becca Bryant, Charlotte Cross, Andrew Davis, Dushi Horti, Jack Renninson, El Slater and Molly Walker-Sharp, thanks for your – occasionally excessive – support and for continuing to act as my own personal thesaurus.
Thank you to my family, the great big sprawling mass of you on both sides of the tree. I’m pretty sure you manifested this publishing deal through sheer force of personality – and I’m so proud to be one of you.
Once again and always, thanks must go to Mum, Dad, Will, Grannie and Amy, for supplying the caffeine, for your patience through incoherent plot discussions, for answering questions like ‘do you think this is funny?’ with unwavering dishonesty and for believing I could do it even when I definitely didn’t. And of course, thank you to Joey and Myla, the best of dogs, for being the most demanding and distracting writing companions the world has ever known. It was just a squirrel, guys – it was always just a squirrel.
Finally, thank you to you for reading it! It still feels extraordinarily strange to be sharing this with readers, and I’m so grateful that you have chosen to spend some of your precious time with this book. I’d love to hear from you, so do get in touch （unless you hated it, in which case I’d rather you didn’t）。
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About the Author
Sophie Irwin grew up in Dorset before moving to south London after university. She has spent years immersed in the study of historical fiction, from a dissertation on how Georgette Heyer helped win World War Two, to time spent in dusty stacks and old tomes losing herself in Regency London while researching this book. Her love and passion for historical fiction bring a breath of fresh air and a contemporary energy to the genre and Sophie hopes to transport readers to a time when ballrooms were more like battlegrounds.
Sophie spent several years working as an assistant editor before going freelance. A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting is Sophie’s debut novel and it has already sold in nearly thirty countries worldwide.
@SophieHIrwin
@sophie.irwin