Hothouse Flower
Page 51
In England, the fantastic Jacquelyn Heslop and Sue Grix, and Pat Pitt, my typist. Jonathan Walpole, whose house helped inspire Wharton Park. The late Jack Farrow, a Sergeant in the 5th Royal Norfolks, whose moving and descriptive diary of life as a POW in Changi helped me to create an accurate picture of the suffering our brave boys were subjected to.
My mother, Janet, my sister, Georgia, and Olivia, my step-daughter, who over the years have all encouraged me to keep going. Stephen, my husband, who has taught me so much about life; without his love and support, I would not have written this book. And my children: Harry, who helped me type in edits with such, er … grace, Isabella, whose zest for life always cheers me up, Leonora, my sensitive, artistic ‘mini-me’, and Kit, my chocolate and Stoke City obsessed ‘baby’. They are used to a blank stare when they interrupt me to ask me a question and I am so very proud of them all.
And finally, my late father, whose wanderlust and genuine interest in the world and the people in it, I have gratefully inherited.