Our Child of the Stars
Page 38
Gene took her hand. Her Gene, how she loved him, and now they were all safe home: her family, her friends, Cory and the new wonder, baby Fleur. And there above Amber Grove, even in the day, was a bright silver streak in the sky: Ship was up there, watching the skies, or on some unknown mission of its own.
‘Make a wish,’ Gene joked, but she already had, with all her heart and soul.
For now, that wish had come true.
Acknowledgements
Writing is an odd thing. Your novel feels supremely ‘yours’ and yet behind it lies a vast array of other people’s work, support and advice. My agent, Rob Dinsdale, believed in Cory; he took the book from the slush-pile, and his dedication and wise guidance on many fronts helped the book to fly. I’d like to thank my editor, Jo Fletcher, who got the heart of the book so clearly and gave it the tough love it needed, and the team at Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus who worked on it with such insight and passion. In particular, thanks to Pat and Leo, for the brilliant cover, Molly and Olivia, and those others behind the scenes.
My beta readers, Alison, Daniel, Deborah, Emily, John, Peter, Sophie and Tom, who challenged and encouraged me. To Tom and Daniel, the enormous credit for American input. All errors remaining are mine.
The writers’ group who meet at the Big Green Bookshop in Haringey were the first to love Cory. Thanks for their humour, generosity, encouragement and no shortage of opinions. The uniquely positive vibe of the group comes in part from Chris, the most genial and gentle presiding spirit.
Since starting this writing thing, I have found generous help and support from writers, editors, agents, bloggers and booksellers. Writer Unboxed and Codex were online groups I used ruthlessly for research and sometimes screaming into.
Theo and Lucy endured the marathon of Dad typing in the living room. Eventually, even they came to believe that the book would happen, and that in fact Dad had done something cool. And finally, thanks to Sarah, of course, for many things.