As for me, I just want to say a quick thanks to the people who ensure I still have something approximating a career. Kate and Rachel at Severn House, you are superb editors and always work extra hard to keep your most delicate author from shattering like a smashed plate. It’s not gone unnoticed and I think of you very fondly. Natasha, I appreciate your patience with the world’s most disorganized man. I will get that email back to you shortly.

Mam. Dad. Phil, Selena and Maisie. I like you. Sorry if it doesn’t always show. And Bernard. You’d have loved this book. Miss you, mate. Wish you were still around.

A fist-bump to my few friends who keep me going when I’m struggling. Sarah Stovell, Babs, Richard V, Mike and Jo Craven, Rachel the Witch, Tony Blake, Steve and Linda Page, Di Gammage … you all mean the world to me.

And finally, my beautiful family. Artemisia, you are my madness and my salvation in one explosive package of glorious insanity. Elora, you wrap your wings around my heart and hold it safe. Amber, Honey and Connor, I’m so very proud of you and love how little interest you have in my career. Go and do the dishes. And Nicola. I’m here because you save my life every night and day. You have given my brain the elasticity of a yoga master’s extremities and I don’t always know what you’re talking about, but my heart beats to the rhythm of whatever mad song is playing on a loop in your head. We are made of the same stars and I will love you always. Sorry about that.