Sir John Royce, High Court judge and neighbour, for his reading of the text and invaluable advice. Any mistakes in the legal aspects of the book are mine alone.

Pat Jones, OBE, founder and principal of the Bristol Dyslexia Centre, for much help and advice.

Simon Williams, Deputy Head of the Charter School North Dulwich, for meeting me at the school and for information about knife crime and school safety procedures.

Nick Shaw, Police Constable, for his invaluable advice about police procedures and investigations.

Erenie Mullens-Burgess, Charity Manager at Bell House, in Dulwich, for kindly showing me around the house, an educational centre which provided inspiration for the setting of Eve’s house.

Alan Grieg, whose bid to FundingNeuro’s auction won the right for Karen McFetters’ name to be included in this story. FundingNeuro is the charity that supports my husband Steve Gill’s work with children’s brain tumours, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease

Julian Power, whose bid to the charity CLIC Sargent’s ‘Get in Character’ auction won the right for Marian Power’s name to be included in my story.

I am very grateful to the following people and teams whose support throughout has been invaluable.

Eve White, my agent, and her assistant Ludo Cinelli, on whom I rely for help, wise advice and friendship.

Jessica Leeke, Clio Cornish, Clare Bowron, Sarah Bance, Nick Lowndes and the whole team at Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, and Lisa Brewster, who designed the beautiful cover of Little Friends.

Rachel Kahn and all her hard-working team at William Morrow, Harper Collins, including Elsie Lyons who designed the fabulous cover of The Playground.

My writing group for their reading of early drafts of this novel, including Tanya Attapatu, Victoria Finlay, Emma Geen, Susan Jordan, Sophie McGovern, Mimi Thebo and from further away Hadiza el Rufai.

Tricia Wastvedt, for her kind advice and wisdom, as always.

My husband Steve and our children, Martha, Mary, Henry Tommy and Johny, for everything.

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Find us online and join the conversation

Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/penguinukbooks

Like us on Facebook facebook.com/penguinbooks

Share the love on Instagram instagram.com/penguinukbooks

Watch our authors on YouTube youtube.com/penguinbooks

Pin Penguin books to your Pinterest pinterest.com/penguinukbooks

Listen to audiobook clips at soundcloud.com/penguin-books

Find out more about the author and discover
your next read at penguin.co.uk