First, I have to thank God, my family, and my friends for being my strength and offering me hope, even during the darkest of times. （We’ve all certainly had our share of those in the last year or so.）
I absolutely have to thank my agent, Danielle Burby, for fighting my battles and keeping me sane — all while somehow never losing your mind over the bazillion emails I send you （daily）。 You are my greatest champion, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me. Thank you also to the entire team at Nelson Literary Agency for being so awesome and continuing to help make my dreams come true.
Huge amounts of gratitude go to my foreign rights agent, Jenny Meyer （and your whole team!）， for continuing to wow me with new international offers, despite the challenging state of the world. You once joked about global domination, but I’m no longer sure you were kidding.
To my editors, Emilia Rhodes and Zoe Walton, I genuinely can’t express how grateful I am for all your hard work on this book. The difference between the first draft and the finished version is astounding, with so many more layers than I ever would have thought to incorporate without your insight and guidance. And more than just the editing, thank you for advocating so strongly for this series in every single way possible! （Cue warm-and-fuzzies.） I’d also like to thank Gabriella Abbate and Mary Verney for your added wisdom, and, of course, my copyeditor, Ana Deboo, and proofreader, Ellen Fast — this book truly was a group effort!
I definitely have to offer a wholehearted thank-you to the entire publishing teams at HMH Teen （especially John Sellers, Julie Yeater, Lauren Wengrovitz, Mary Magrisso, David Hastings, Samantha Bertschmann, Taylor Navis, and Jim Tierney）， PRH Australia （especially Dot Tonkin, Tina Gumnior, Jess Bedford, Adelaide Jensen, Michael Windle, and Kristin Gill, plus, of course, legends Julie Burland, Laura Harris, and Angela Duke）， and Hodder & Stoughton （especially Molly Powell, Kate Keehan, Maddy Marshall, and Sarah Clay）。 Big, squishy virtual hugs for all of you.
Thank you also to my foreign publishers and their teams at Intrínseca, Sperling & Kupfer, Znanje, Maxim, Szeged, Loewe Verlag, Eksmo, Albatros/Fragman, and De Boekerij. I can’t wait to see all your beautiful translations!
To my author friends, as always, thank your for your continued support and encouragement. There are too many of you to name, but I’m so honored to know you all. I’d especially like to thank Sarah J. Maas for being so incredibly generous and just downright amazing. I’m so, so blessed by your friendship. （Six years and counting — can you believe it?!） And Jessica Townsend, our attempted weekly beach walks are absolute highlights for me — partly because of the doggos, but mostly because I get to hang with your “wundrous” self. （See what I did there?）
I’m certain I’ve forgotten people here （can we blame pandemic brain?）， but I’m going to finish by offering my unending gratitude to everyone who read The Prison Healer and loved it enough to shout it from the rooftops — book reviewers, booksellers, librarians, teachers, kids, teens, adults, parents, grandparents, everyone. I hope you’re satisfied with this continuation of Kiva’s tale, but, uh, sorry for yet another cliffhanger. My bad. *Hides face.*
About the Author
Australian author Lynette Noni studied journalism, academic writing, and human behaviour at university before venturing into the world of fiction. She is now a full-time writer and the #1 bestselling and award-winning author of The Medoran Chronicles, the Whisper duology, and The Prison Healer.