by Abby Davies
Special thanks to the girls I taught at Godolphin School in Salisbury, who I test-drove the first couple of chapters on; their reaction gave me a lot of confidence and ideas, and made me laugh out loud.
I owe tremendous thanks to my amazingly talented editor, Kathryn Cheshire, whose enthusiasm, skill and hard work has blown me away. She is incredible and an absolute joy to work with. Her patience really knows no bounds.
Thank you to the rest of the team at HarperCollins, especially Katy Blott, Jen Harlow, Isabel Coburn, Alice Gomer, Grace Dent and Claire Ward, who did a superb job at marketing, publicising, selling, producing and creating this book. Thanks also to fantastic copyeditor, Anne O’Brien, for smoothing out those nasty wrinkles.
Enormous thanks to Clinical Psychologists, Jane and Robin Logie, for their invaluable insight into Mother’s and Polly’s behaviour and for giving their time so kindly and generously. I dread to think what would be missing from the book if Jane and I hadn’t met at Ballet Barre that fortuitous Saturday morning.
I’m grateful to the following writers (to name a few), whose work inspired this tale and made me a better writer: Stephen King, Emma Donaghue, Ali Land, S. J. Watson, Paul Pen and Henry James. Huge thanks also to the people who reviewed this book – their reactions have made me goofy-happy!
Thank you to my friends and family for always showing an interest in my writing and for reading early drafts of this story. Special thanks must go to my cousin Mollie for reading my stuff and giving me the ego-boost I needed.
Endless thanks to Mum and Dad for their unrelenting emotional support, incisive feedback and countless read-throughs. They are unbelievably supportive and selfless. Thank you to infinity and beyond.
Special thanks to my hero of a husband, Tommy, who never stops believing in me and who I could not write without.
Finally, thank you to my magical little girl, Heidi, for screaming, ‘Eighty thousand!’ when I hit the word count.
About the Author
Abby Davies studied English Literature at the University of Sheffield, then went on to teach English. She lives in Wiltshire with her husband and daughter. Mother Loves Me is her first novel.
@Abby13Richards
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada
www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India
www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com