Paula put out her hand. ‘Dad. Help me sit up, will you? I’ve got things to do.’
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank everyone at Headline, Hachette Ireland, and my overseas publishers for their support and belief in my books, especially Ali Hope.
Thanks to the staff at Johnson and Alcock, Blake Friedmann and AM Heath literary agencies, especially Oli Munson.
Thanks to my Twitter friends for help with many random research questions (eg What is the biggest town in Donegal? How quickly do you die from scalpel wounds?) especially Maitiú Ó Coimín who helped with the Irish (any remaining mistakes are down to me, or as I’m going to claim, ‘regional differences’).
Thanks to all my fantastic friends and family, who helped get me through this year. Especially thanks to Sarah Day and Angela Clarke for a riotous writing trip to Russia, in which not much actual writing got done. Thanks to Elizabeth Haynes for organising a great writing retreat in which quite a lot did.
Thanks to Oliver for reading early drafts of the book. Thanks to Jake Kerridge once again for support, helpful comments, and burgers, and to Stav Sherez for his invaluable help, without which the book would be much weaker.
Finally thanks to Iain, for coming along at exactly the right time.
To anyone who reviewed my previous books or contacted me to say they liked them – thank you so much, it means the world that you take the time to do this.
If you’ve enjoyed this book, I’d love to hear from you. Visit my website at http://clairemcgowan.net, or find me wasting time on twitter, where I am @inkstainsclaire.
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