Thank you to my wonderful agent, Jo Bell, for always being there for advice and support and for helping me navigate through my publishing journey. Thanks to the whole team at Bell Lomax Moreton for cheering me on. Thank you to my incredible publishers, Hera Books – Keshini Naidoo and Lindsey Mooney – two impressive women who work so hard for all their authors. I feel very lucky to have Keshini as my editor. She has helped to make this novel the one I always hoped it would be.

My MA tutor, Lesley Glaister gave me encouragement, feedback and support whilst I was writing the first draft. I’m truly indebted to her. Subsequent sections and drafts were read by many fellow writers and tutors, including Susan Elliot Wright, Jude Brown, Caroline Priestly, Philippa Ronan, Jo Berry, Britta Jensen, Fiona Mitchell, Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, Louise Tondeur and Martyn Bedford. Later drafts were improved by partial and full manuscript reports from Emma Darwin, Shelley Harris, Amanda Saint at Retreat West and Sara Sarre at The Blue Pencil Agency. As The Black Garden, this novel won Retreat West’s First Chapter competition in 2015, chosen by a literary agent.

Thank you to Graham Bartlett, Police Advisor for your answers to all my questions and for your patience. Thank you for your last-minute advice, Jules Swain, Ambulance Paramedic. I have used artistic license with a couple of details about Uxbridge, for instance the newspaper kiosk outside Uxbridge station closed several years ago. Any errors in this book are entirely my own.

Thanks also to Richard Skinner at the Faber Academy for showcasing chapter one of this novel in the Writing a Novel class of 2016 anthology.

Heartfelt thanks to all my family, friends and supporters online and offline, especially Susan Elliot Wright, Rose McGinty, Lucille Grant, Louise Jensen and Tracey, Mark and Alice Weeks – your support, advice and friendship keeps me smiling.

Finally, all my love to my dearest children, Charlie, Edward and Sophie. I know how lucky I am to have you all.

About the Author

Ruby Speechley graduated from Sheffield Hallam university with an MA in Creative Writing. She is a Faber Academy alumna and prolific writer whose work has been longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction prize, Exeter Novel Prize, The Caledonia Novel Award, The Bath Novel Award, and has won the Retreat West First Chapter Competition and Best Opening Chapter at the Festival of Writing in York.

Also by Ruby Speechley

Someone Else's Baby

Every Little Secret

A Mother Like You

The Face at the Window