This book was a journey through strange seas, with no familiar stars to navigate by . . . save for those people, stars every one, who helped me point the ship in the right direction and bail out water when necessary.
My everlasting gratitude to my brilliant editors, Emily Griffin and Claire Baldwin, who took to Vintage instantly and provided endless advice and support through what was a fairly long and tricky process. Ladies, you rock. Big thanks also to Katie Bradburn who managed to get me, the world’s least organised person, to various conventions this past year, even when The Ninth Rain had more or less melted my brain. And as ever, wild applause for Patrick Insole and the design team at Headline, who gave this rather difficult to classify book a cover.
I have the best agent. Thank you, Juliet Mushens, for loving this book and sending me excitable texts about it; for teaching me what to order in Wahaca; for being a bezzer mate. Thanks must also go, as usual, to the whole of Team Mushens for general support and excellence. Specifically, I must thank Andrew Reid for continuing to be one of the best people I’ve had the good fortune to know and exchange terrible jokes with, and Den Patrick (now technically more Team Mushens than all of us), who not only continues to sail the good ship Super Relaxed Fantasy Club with me, but also, by the time this is printed, will have taught me how to play X-Wing miniatures. Thanks also to Pete Newman, exchanger of bemused looks on con panels and Scarborough buddy – a friend who knows when to listen to your problems, and when to send outraged-on-your-behalf emails. Thanks, as ever, to Adam Christopher, my oldest writing buddy, who gave me a cheerful shove towards the writing life. Writers are a fragile bunch in many ways, and I feel very lucky to have such a great bunch of writer mates to cling to when the stories are sticky and I’ve forgotten how to word.
This time round I also wanted to give a shout out to Laura, Blighty, Lee, Christian, Herc, Jonesy, Leslie, Uncle Badger and the rest of the Hard Core Krew (and occupants of the Inappropriate Corner). I’m aware that I’ve been barely present this year, for various reasons, but the sight of your faces and posts online has been a boon when things were tough. Big thanks also to the readers who supported my previous series, The Copper Cat trilogy – thanks to you, I get to write another.
This book is dedicated to my brother, Paul, who was my first hero and the person I continue to look up to. As a kid, I decided I wanted my handwriting to look as cool as my brother’s, so I spent some time copying it – my cheerfully messy scrawl still bears the marks of this. Sorry for stealing your handwriting, bro. As usual, I must mention my mum, unerringly kind and tolerant despite my being a massive pain in the arse, and my dear friend Jenni, a quiet source of strength and wisdom since I was ten, if you can believe it.
Lastly, thanks and love in stupendous quantities to Marty, my partner/best friend/soul mate/fellow cat wrangler. We continue to laugh every day and that’s why we’re the best, Harvey.