Thank you to George Konstantinou at NGO Protection of the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity of Cyprus; thank you so much for answering all of my questions, for all your help and advice, and for the wonderful photographs you took and sent to me. I wish I could have attended one of your wildlife tours if we hadn’t been in lockdown, but speaking to you nonetheless was so informative. Thank you also for the wonderful and important work you are doing to protect the forests and the animals on the island.
Thank you Eva Spanou for helping me to progress with my research. Thank you so much Nicolas and Sotiroulla Simou for sharing information with me about poaching.
Thank you to Peter Louizou and Tassos Louizou, for talking to me for so long last Christmas about hunting, for sharing all your knowledge with me about the poaching of songbirds and the very specific technique of making lime-sticks. Thank you to my lovely brother, Mario Lefteri, for giving me so much advice and information about Cyprus and about poaching locations, for being one of the first to read my novel, as you always are, and for all your help and suggestions. Thank you to Angela Stella Monaghan for your help and for introducing me to your parents. Equally, thank you to Panayiotis and Andriana Michael for spending so long talking to me about poaching and for all the useful information you shared with me.
Thank you to Nishan Weeratunge and Sajeewa Dissanayake for all the information you gave me about Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan food and culture and Sri Lankan history. It was immensely helpful and so great that I made new and wonderful friends from it. Thank you to Maryvonne and Antony for inspiring me with all of your stories and for introducing me to Nishan.
Thank you to my beautiful friend, Anna Petsas, who I should have thanked last time, for encouraging me to volunteer, to take thoughtful risks, and for sending me the article about domestic workers in the first place and alerting me to what was happening. You are so inspirational; I have often found myself taking huge steps in my life after just talking to you!
I would like to thank my friend Paul Lewis for all the inspirational writing chats. I would also like to thank Conway Road Writing Group – it means the world to me to be part of this group. Thank you all for being such great, supportive and talented and lovely people!
Thank you to Mehr at Salt and Sage Books for your thoughtful and insightful authenticity read; it was a real privilege to receive your helpful feedback on the manuscript. Thank you to my agent, Marianne Gunn O’Connor – you are my guiding star. Thank you for your love, care, support, encouragement, vision, for being such a beautiful, inspirational person, for caring so much about the world and for also being a friend. I would never have been able to do this without you.
Thank you to my foreign rights agent at MGOC, Vicki Satlow, for being so amazing, and for everything you have done for me over the years.
Thank you so so much to my publishers at Manilla Press. Thank you Kate Parkin for your constant and unwavering support and for everything you have done, for being so caring, insightful and passionate. Margaret Stead – you have been absolutely amazing – all those conversations we had over the phone during lockdown, your insight, your suggestions, your imagination and creativity, and absolutely everything you have done to help make this novel happen.
Thank you to Perminder Mann for all of your support. Thank you Clare Kelly, Felice McKeown and Katie Lumsden – you are all so great to work with; thank you for all the hard work you have put into bringing this novel out.
Thank you to all my friends and family for your love and support over the years. Thank you to my brother, Kyri, and his wife for always encouraging me and being there for me. Thank you to Maria and Antony for being the best friends anyone can ask for. Thank you to Stellios Arseniyadis for listening to all my ideas during the editing process, and for being so helpful and supportive. Thank you to Claire and Sam Afhim for your friendship and support. Thank you to Louis Evangelou for your advice, for being so helpful, caring and endlessly patient. Thank you to the whole Evangelou family – Katerina, Tina and Chris – for all your support and help and lovely food and love, always.
Thank you especially to my dad and Yiota for always being there for me, encouraging me never to give up and for all your love and help. Thank you to my mum, though you are no longer with us – thank you for the love you gave me, the belief you had in me and for how funny and creative you were. I have those things with me, every step I take.
Every time I write a novel, I learn so much, and I’d really like to thank everybody who helped me to know, to understand, and to see things in a new way.