by C. J. Flood
‘Doubt my dad’ll let me,’ I lied, putting ten fizzy cola bottles in a paper bag.
‘He still being unusual?’ she said, and I nodded, but the truth was I couldn’t bear it round hers any more.
Her mum, Donna, asked questions with her best talk-to-me expression: Are you okay? And is your dad okay? And is everything OKAY at Silverweed Farm? The worst thing was that Matty didn’t stop her. She just stood there expectantly, as if the two of them had become some kind of talk show mother/daughter duo, and I their favourite guest.
Acknowledgements
There are so many people I would like to acknowledge for their help and support along the way to finishing Nightwanderers. First and foremost my empathic and insightful editor, Rachel Mann, not only for her belief in this story, but for her suggestions on how to improve it, many of which can be seen throughout these pages. Also Jane Griffiths and Elisa Offord, as well as the whole team at Simon and Schuster for continuing to make my dreams reality. And thanks to Elv Moody for her encouragement in the early days of this book.
Thanks to Drue Heinz, founder of the Hawthornden International Writers’ Retreat, for allowing me to stay at her beautiful castle in Scotland while I did the final edits for this book, and to Grants for the Arts for their generous support.
As ever, huge thanks go to my family whose belief in me never falters: Mum, Dad, Nanny, Liam and Thomas. And to the friends who cheer me on, and who I couldn’t do without, Fiddy Matthews, Skem Diddly, Nathan Filer, Emily Parker, Ursula Freeman, Molly Naylor, Em Prove, Alex Ivey, Sophie Sherwood and Elizabeth Mizon. Special thanks to Max Naylor who is my biggest inspiration and most beloved of the beloveds.
Final thanks to Catherine Clarke for the unwavering faith in my writing: it means a lot.