‘German.’ Petra laughs. ‘I don’t want to miss anything.’

Evie likes talking to the women. They’re warm and friendly and laugh a lot.

‘Your book To the Moon, the Stars, and Back Again,’ Petra says, as they all watch the ride nearby stop, a bunch of kids climb off, and then a new set who have been waiting patiently climb into their spots. ‘It changed my life.’

‘That’s kind of you,’ Evie says.

‘No, honestly, she’s serious,’ interjects Ingrid.

‘The protagonist,’ Petra muses. ‘Her best friend says something to her and look.’ She rolls up her coat sleeve to reveal a tattoo in German. ‘It says cite your source in my language,’ she explains. ‘Like Lisa’s best friend says to her.’

Evie thinks back to the book. It’s a love story, as always, but the sub-plot is about how Lisa, the main character, is a small business owner in a small town, lobbying against developers who want to build luxury flats on the grounds of the local park. It would stand to make a small number of locals very rich, for various reasons, but a lot of other locals would be worse off. Lisa starts to believe the horrible things people are saying about her – the ones who don’t think she should be getting involved – and her best friend tells her to cite her source. Does the protagonist have to receive the criticisms on her personality or motivations from the developers? Actually no, because that is a faulty source. They don’t know her. Does she have to receive the affirmations and love from her best friend, and the people whose interests she is trying to protect? Well yeah, actually, because that’s a source close to her, and so it is more valid. There’s a second line, once she implements this, where she says: I get to decide which sources to cite in my own goddamn life! Evie hasn’t thought of that in ages. How interesting to meet these strangers who make her reflect back on her own words. She could almost believe she’s quite wise. Or, at least, her characters are.

‘I don’t get along with my mother,’ Petra says. ‘My sister does. But me? I never have. It’s like we are aliens to each other, and we make each other quite unhappy. And she has said some unkind things to me before, and I believed them, and then I read your book and I thought cite your source. She might be my mother, but we haven’t had a proper conversation since I was still at school. She doesn’t know me. So I am not going to cite her as a source!’

‘It was like a magic sentence for her,’ Ingrid adds, nodding in agreement. ‘A sort of freedom, really, I think. Petra?’