There are quite a few people to thank for help with research on this book. Yair Cohen at Cohen Davis Solicitors for legal knowledge, Matt Pyke from Fly High Media and Melanie Smith at Run 2 Media for the digital marketing background. My dear friend Charlotte Kewley, AKA The Little Stylist who patiently conducted a blogger/ Instagram 101 lesson to someone who can barely remember to add a hashtag. To all the people that got back to me on Twitter about noughties dance music, you improved my book and my Spotify playlists. Both are appreciated.
Mike, thanks for Manchester knowledge and tip-offs. If I trust anyone to know where the cool spots are, it’s you, so keep eating brunch and drinking wine, just for me, in case I need help again, will you? And to Mike and the rest of my school friends, Vic, Zo, Helen and Suse; the support you gave me when my first book came out was such a special thing and I’m lucky to have had you all in my life since we went to school together about, erm, eight years ago. Yes, that’s the right number. Definitely eight(een. And the rest). The same is true for all of my friends, especially the power crew of women’s magazine alumni, who’ve spent the last year championing my books and whooping in my corner. Thank you.
When I wrote my epic acknowledgements for Through The Wall – that’s allowed for your first book, isn’t it? Don’t worry, I’ll try and keep it shorter for this one – one person I didn’t mention was THAT teacher, you know the one, the one that makes a difference. So just on the off chance you ever see this, the Miss Brophy who taught English at Rainford High School around, erm, 2012 (ok fine, the late nineties) and dragged me away from Point Romance and over to the Brontës, you made a big impact on me and the breadth of my reading and that’s something I have reason to be grateful for from both a personal and a professional perspective. I’m sure I’m not the only one. What a teacher.
To Lucy and Daisy, the support crew of the Diana’s Dames WhatsApp group for a policy that we must always start a conversation mildly hysterical, paranoid and irrational and end it as vaguely reasonable human beings. You know, for writers.
On the publishing side of things, thanks to my editor Phoebe Morgan for her patience, expertise and brilliance. As I’ve mentioned, this book was edited during Covid-19 lockdown when we were all in shock and finding our feet with a whole new way of working, but Phoebe ploughed on regardless and utterly professional to make this a better book, as she always does.
To the Avon massive; from every awesome member of the team to the authors that have welcomed me into their crew in such a kind way. I burst with pride at being part of what is without a doubt the tightest knit, most hardworking gang in publishing. Special note to Sabah Khan, obviously, because she is obscenely talented and none of us could function without her.
The same is true for my agent, Diana Beaumont. Diana, I may have been waving at you this time round over Zoom instead of across a table with extra mashed potato but your support has been felt keenly, as always. I hope we work together on many books to come. Hopefully then out of lockdown, with an extra big hug and an extra large wine. Thanks too to the rest of the Marjacq team, notably Sandra Sawicka and Leah Middleton.
To Luke, I need to take this opportunity to say that I’m sorry I gave the Through The Wall baddie your name. You are very definitely not a baddie. Now please let us still come and swim in your pool in Miami.
To everyone that supported my first book, from bloggers to reviewers to local book shops and radio stations; every kind word spurred me on to start again with a blank page for round two and write The Baby Group, even when a tiny bit tired with a newborn. So a huge thank you.
To my family, especially Mum, Dad and Gem for unending support, enthusiasm and (Gem) Facebook posts. To Grandad, I wish you’d been around for this. You’d have loved it.
And of course, thanks to Simon for entering into this parenting/ work tag team system of ours, which means that every week I get to write calmly at a laptop one minute and hurl myself around a baby group pretending to be a lion the next. These years are unique and non-stop and special and I would not change one tiny thing about them. Which brings me to my two incredible boys, whose smiling, generally food-covered faces put everything in the world – including book edits – into perspective. Thanks to the three of you for being my team.
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About the Author
Caroline Corcoran is a freelance lifestyle and popular culture writer and editor. She has worked for most of the top magazines, newspapers and websites in the country, and also as a copywriter for brands and websites. After 14 years in London, Caroline recently returned up north to the Wirral because she had a baby and there was more free grandparent babysitting available there. You’ll often find her feeling travelsick but still trying to write on a Virgin Pendolino into Euston.
You can follow her on Twitter here: @cgcorcoran
By the same author:
Through The Wall
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