Huge thanks to the Primadonna Festival. There are many literary festivals out there, but this one really is special: warm, friendly, inclusive and truly life-changing, not just for me but for others too. That sunny weekend in Suffolk in the summer of 2019 was where my adventure began.

Thank you to Gillian who read my manuscript in its rawest state. Her lovely feedback gave me the confidence to continue working on it and her insight helped me see what the story could actually be.

As an insomniac myself, I didn’t have to go far for most of my research for this story, but there were two books upon which I relied. Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep and Guy Leschziner’s The Secret World of Sleep both provided inspiration, knowledge and an insight into what the brain does while we sleep. Any flights of fancy or misinterpretations are, of course, my own.

Thanks to The Coven – we have been meeting in thunder, lightning and in rain for a very long time now. Where would I be without you? (No, really, where? I’m terrible with directions!) Em: the woman who knows where all the bodies are, helped bury them and brought nibbles and drinks for afterwards. Fi: the first reader of many books and stories, grammar queen, hot dog legs, ‘I’m not being funny but …’ Oh yes, and Chris: I have been waiting a long time for the right opportunity to introduce him as ‘my friend’s husband.’

Thanks Ian for reading the book when I was still trying to understand what worked and what didn’t – and for your enthusiasm. ‘There’s a book in that!’

Also thank you to the writing community, on Twitter and Facebook, all of them so generous with encouragement and help – far too many to name individually, but you know who you are.

Thanks to my family. To Cath, for her super-quick emergency read when I desperately needed a fresh set of eyes, Martin, Aidan, Ffion and Gwen. Auntie Irene who brought Christmas every year when we were little and braved all of our caravan holidays. To my sister Caroline who always dressed my Barbie first when we were little. And to my mother, who worked so hard to make the best life for us and who gave us our love of reading in the first place.

Finally, thanks to my husband Jason, the best partner-in-crime, cheerleader, sympathy-giver, chef, beta-reader and friend. I cannot imagine my life without you.

And to all the sleepless, those who know about darkness, reading this so late at night that, after what seems like years, it eventually becomes morning.

Dear Reader …

Dear Reader,

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