Thank you to Dolly Alderton, who taught me that the smallest moments can be cinematic.
Thank you to the only two WhatsApp groups I will ever respond to: The Tub and Monica’s Ass.
Thank you to Sarah Savitt, for letting me write this book instead of the other one that I promised to write, but didn’t. Thank you Bryony Woods and Andrew Mills for representing this book like it was their own firstborn. Thank you to Clare Gordon for being this book’s eleventh-hour midwife. Thank you to Jenny Jackson for seeing its potential.
Thank you, as always, to the whole team at Virago. Thank you also to Page Boy, whose intelligent notes always helped me see my own work more clearly, and sometimes resulted in a few last-minute changes.
Thank you to my family for always being there. Thank you to everyone who made those Cork years worth it: everyone who worked at HMV, everyone who visited our stupid little house, everyone who worked at The Bróg, everyone I stole a drink off.
Thank you to Gavin Day, for always taking the time to tell me what is in a whale’s head.
The acknowledgements are a part of the book where you must observe everything that went into the creation of the story. A sad fact of this book is that it revolves around the access—or lack thereof—of reproductive healthcare. With this in mind, please consider donating your time or money to Planned Parenthood, BPAS, or any charity that aids this cause.
A Note About the Author
Caroline O’Donoghue is the New York Times best-selling author of All Our Hidden Gifts, her YA debut fantasy, which has been published in more than twenty countries around the world. She has written for The Times （London） and The Guardian, and is the host of an award-winning podcast, Sentimental Garbage. She was born in Ireland and lives in London. The Rachel Incident is her first adult novel to be published in the United States.