The Night She Disappeared
Page 35
So thank you, Selina, for breaking me out of my paralysis and forcing me into problem-solving mode. This book was written in a rented writing space across the road from my house. My lockdown office. My godsend. Thank you so much, Lockdown Office, and thank you to Victoria and Rebecca at Swiss Quarters, who made me feel so welcome during my time renting the unit.
On a professional level, 2020 was an exceptional year for me. I hit the number one spot in both the New York Times bestseller and Sunday Times bestseller lists, I sold more than half a million copies of The Family Upstairs in the UK and more than a million copies of Then She Was Gone in the US. Whilst hunkered down in my tiny, shrunken lockdown world, it was joyful to think of so many new readers coming to my books, exploring my backlist, finding an escape from the scariness of the real world. So thank you to everyone who bought one of my books last year and welcome to all my new readers who have come back for more. I am so grateful to you all.
Thank you to booksellers across the globe who somehow found ways to keep selling books to people who wanted to read them; Jiffy bags must have experienced a sales boom over the past year! And thank you to librarians who also found ingenious ways to keep their lending programs going. Booksellers and librarians also kept up incredibly fast-moving and well-organized programs of events for writers and readers during COVID restrictions, so thank you to everyone who hosted me last year, from the comfort of my bedroom.
Thank you to amazing Jonny Geller, my agent at amazing Curtis Brown in the UK, and amazing Deborah Schneider, my agent at amazing Gelfman Schneider in the US. You have both been magnificent in maintaining incredibly high standards of service during such a challenging year.
Thank you to all my publishers, all over the world, with especial thanks to Selina and Najma and everyone at Cornerstone in the UK and to Lindsay Sagnette and Ariele Fredman and everyone at Atria in the US.
Thank you to my spectacular writer pals who have kept me sane on various social media platforms this year: Jenny Colgan, Maddy Wickham, Jojo Moyes, Amanda Jennings, Tammy Cohen, Serena Mackesy, Chris Manby, Tamsin Grey, Adele Parks, and a ton more.
And lastly, thank you to my family for being, on the whole, pretty decent company in a year when being decent company was about the most important thing to be.
Here’s to the end of a weird footnote in history and to normal business soon being resumed. Bring on the coffee shops!
More from the Author
Untitled #1
Invisible Girl
The Truth About Melody Browne
The Family Upstairs
Watching You
Then She Was Gone
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold more than five million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @lisajewelluk, on Instagram @lisajewelluk, and on Facebook @lisajewellofficial.
SimonandSchuster.com
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Lisa-Jewell
@AtriaBooks @AtriaBooks @AtriaBooks
Also by Lisa Jewell
Invisible Girl
The Family Upstairs
Watching You
Then She Was Gone
I Found You
The Girls in the Garden
The Third Wife
The House We Grew Up In
Before I Met You
The Making of Us
After the Party
The Truth About Melody Browne
31 Dream Street
A Friend of the Family
Vince & Joy
One-Hit Wonder
Thirtynothing
Ralph’s Party
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Lisa Jewell
Originally published in Great Britain in 2021 by Century
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First Atria Books hardcover edition September 2021
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Interior design by Erika R. Genova
Cover design by James Iacobelli
Cover photographs by Adobe Stock and Stocksy
Author photograph © Andrew Whitton
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jewell, Lisa, author.
Title: The night she disappeared : a novel / Lisa Jewell.
Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York : Atria Books, 2021.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021015888 (print) | LCCN 2021015889 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982137366 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982137380 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Psychological fiction. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PR6060.E95 N54 2021 (print) | LCC PR6060.E95 (ebook) | DDC 823/.914—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015888
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015889
ISBN 978-1-9821-3736-6
ISBN 978-1-9821-3738-0 (ebook)