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Back Day of the Accident
Chapters (71)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. What readers are saying about
  5. Epigraph
  6. Prologue
  7. Part One
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. Part Two
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. 36
  45. 37
  46. 38
  47. 39
  48. 40
  49. 41
  50. 42
  51. 43
  52. 44
  53. 45
  54. 46
  55. 47
  56. 48
  57. 49
  58. 50
  59. 51
  60. Part Three
  61. 52
  62. 53
  63. 54
  64. 55
  65. 56
  66. 57
  67. 58
  68. Epilogue
  69. Acknowledgements
  70. THE NEXT THRILLER BY NUALA ELLWOOD
  71. THE BEGINNING

Thank you to my agent Madeleine Milburn for all your help and support and for believing in my writing from the very start. Also to Hayley Steed, Alice Sutherland-Hawes, Giles Milburn and Anna Hogarty at the MMLA Agency. You’re a super team and I appreciate your support so much.

A big thank you goes to the immensely talented Carolyn Jess-Cooke who invited me to be a part of her Writing Motherhood project back in 2015. The project hoped to dispel the Cyril Connolly quote that ‘there is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall’ and I think it succeeded in showing that parenthood and the creation of art need not be mutually exclusive. The women I met through the workshops we led, and the stories they shared, inspired and moved me a great deal. One conversation particularly resonated with me. It was with a young mother who told me that she wrote in secret as she felt guilty for taking time out from her young baby to work on something that could be seen as indulgent. This idea that creative work is an indulgence or guilty pleasure, particularly for mothers, was something I wanted to explore in this novel and it really helped shape the character of Maggie.

Heartfelt thanks go to Tamsin for sharing your experiences of foster care – the good and the bad. Your stories will stay with me for ever.

My love and thanks also to my wonderful family for your endless patience, cups of coffee, glasses of wine, ‘mad half hours’ and words of encouragement. I couldn’t have done any of this without you and I love you all very much!

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the beautiful village of Rodmell in Sussex. Though Larkfields, Ketton House Farm and the Plough Inn are purely fictional, my affinity and fascination with this beautiful corner of Sussex are very much real. I rediscovered Virginia Woolf, and the watery landscape where she spent much of her life, eleven years ago when I was heavily pregnant with my son Luke. We’d moved to Sussex from London and, desperate for fresh air, I headed out on long walks across the Downs. The river Ouse was my constant companion. It snaked alongside me as I walked, listening to my hopes and fears of life and impending motherhood and sometimes giving away secrets of its own. Many years later when I sat down at my desk, in a house that overlooks another River Ouse, and began to write The Day of the Accident, I thought about those few months of solitary river-walking. Like the young woman I’d met during the Writing Motherhood Project, back then I had concealed my desire to write and wondered what the future would hold. Little did I know that becoming a mother would reignite my creativity and give me the strength to pursue my dream of writing novels.