Fauna

by Donna Mazza

This story would not be what it is without those who support me in so many ways I can’t list them. I would not know what it’s like to be a parent without my beloved, Graham Parton, who also made sure I regularly visited the rivers, estuary and sea featured in this novel. Thank you Allegra, Florinda and Frank for teaching me to be a parent and to my own parents, John and Margaret, who are fantastic examples.

  Thanks to my fellow writer, Robyn Mundy, who sent me encouraging messages and read early drafts, to Sarah Mills for my author photo with the chook and also to my sister-in-law, Hanriette, for details of Isak’s South Africa. I am grateful for the support of my early readers, Jo, Maria and Narrelle, and the mentorship of the wonderful Richard Rossiter. Thanks also to Carmela, Ghislaine, Dave, Anne, Paul and Hannas for various acts of love and kindness, and special mention must be made of Louis, who inspired Tayto.

  My research on Neanderthal people was informed by the work of Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse, whose book The Neanderthals Rediscovered provided me with many insights. I drew my understanding of de-extinction from Beth Shapiro’s How to Clone a Mammoth, which makes the science behind this quite accessible.