many people have helped in the writing of this book,but none more than my agent, lizzy kremer, who iswonderful and wise. huge thanks also to harrietmoore, alice howe, emma jamison, chiara natalucciand everyone at david higham, as well as to tineneilsen and stella giatrakou.

i am very grateful to my brilliant editors on bothsides of the atlantic: sarah adams, sarah mcgrathand nita provonost. my thanks also to alisonbarrow, katy loftus, bill scott-kerr, helen edwards,kate samano and the fantastic teams both attransworld and at riverhead—there are too many ofyou to mention.

thank you, kate neil, jamie wilding, mum, dadand rich for all your support and encouragement.

finally, thank you to the commuters of london,who provided that little spark of inspiration.