That was when they finally turned up the music to drown out Kurt’s mic, and started playing the pre-planned showreel of all the most heartwarming moments from all of Ron Cox’s most heartwarming movies.
For a long time after she had turned the television off, Nikki just sat there, occasionally dabbing at her face with the sleeve of her jumper, occasionally digging a little ball of tissue out of her pyjama pocket to blow her nose. She didn’t need to look online to know what people would already be talking about, nor what they would be saying about Ron Cox, about Kurt. She could imagine there would be people defending Ron, and accusing Kurt, and all the people who always had opinions about things would be racing to be the first person off the mark with their hot take, and already the battle lines would be forming.
She put her phone down, walked to the window and looked out into the darkness, at the bare tree at the end of the lawn silhouetted against the orange-lit sky, the moon behind the clouds.
And she stood there for a long time, thinking. About Ron. About Ned. About all the things she had done in her life and all the things she had still to do. About all the ways one person can shape and twist and hurt another. About the difficulties, perhaps even the impossibility, of ever fully putting some things right. About the past and about the present and the future. About a decision, and a phone call, to the young man who she was proud to have given birth to, that it was finally time to make.
Acknowledgements
The past couple of years have not been the easiest time for anyone trying to do anything, and certainly wasn’t an easy time to write a book. The fact that we managed it is down to the support of our friends, family and each other – as well as brilliant teams on both sides of the Atlantic.
We’d both like to thank our super-smart and ever kind and supportive agents Emma Finn at C&W and Hillary Jacobson at ICM – we cannot tell you how much we appreciate your wisdom and cheerleading. Luke Speed （thank you for answering our endless questions about everything, we think you are great!） and Anna Weguelin at Curtis Brown; Kate Burton, Jake Smith-Bosanquet, Matilda Ayris and the lovely rights team at C&W.
At Harper, thank you to Doug Jones, our editor Sarah Stein （one day we will go for those pancakes!）， Hayley Salmon and Katherine Beitner; the sales, production and publicity and marketing teams; and the art team who created a brilliantly atmospheric cover for The Club.
At Mantle, our editor Sam Humphries, Samantha Fletcher, Alice Gray, and the sales, production, marketing and publicity teams. Our early blurbers, thank you – Harriet Tyce, Cesca Major, Holly Watt, Charlotte Philby, Eliza-Jane Brazier. We really appreciate it!
To the Book of the Month team, and complete legends Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan and the WHSmith team, for selecting our debut novel, People Like Her, to be a pick.
Collette would like to thank: the wordy women on the other end of WhatsApp through successive lockdowns and beyond – Holly Watt, Rebecca Thornton, Alice Wignall, Celia Walden; Sebastian Isaac, Richard Acton and Robert Boon for their professional expertise; Catherine Jarvie and Karolyn Fairs for being our trusted first readers, as always; Lesley McGuire, Sagar Shah, Eleanor O’Carroll and Tanya Petsa for just general everything; Amy Little （we survived!）， Graham Banton and the tribe of Banton boys for sanity-saving Sunday walks; Alicia Clarke and Annick Wolfers for their camera skills; the wonderful women of Churchill & Partners – Beverley Churchill, Shelley Landale-Down; and Jo Lee and Dan Henshaw.
For their help, advice, support and encouragement over the years, Paul would like to thank: Cara Harvey, Sarah Jackson, Julia Jordan, Louise Joy, Eric Langley, David McAllister, Adrian Poole, Peter Robinson, Claire Sargent, Oli Seares, Katy Stewart-Moore, Jane Vlitos and John Vlitos, as well as my friends and colleagues in the School of English Literature, Film and Creative Writing at the University of Surrey.
And of course our daughter, who is already in training to join the family band.
Enjoyed The Club?
You’ll love Ellery Lloyd’s thrilling debut novel People Like Her