Today, there are no boats on the horizon, but I can see the red-and-white-striped Unity returning to the slip at Bàgh Fasgach. Calum sees it too and races along the shoreline, kicking up water, his high giggles catching and riding the wind. And something inside my chest gets tight with hope.

Once, many years ago, I stood on a headland just like this and looked out at the same ocean. I was alone and afraid and full of despair. But I vowed even then that I would come back again. I’d come back in spite of the storms. In spite of the fear. In spite of the despair. I had hope. Because somehow I knew that one day things would be different. One day I’d stop being afraid. I would come back. And all would be well.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you, as ever, to my brilliant editor, Carla Josephson, and my equally brilliant agent, Hellie Ogden, for their generosity and expertise, absolute faith and endless patience! I’m grateful to you both more than words can ever say.

Thank you to the hugely talented team at Borough Press and HarperCollins, who have been so enthusiastic and supportive from day one. Thank you to Suzie Dooré, Ore Agbaje-Williams, Ann Bissell, and Margot Gray. Thank you to Claire Ward for her terrific artwork. And thank you to Izzy Coburn, Sarah Munro, Maddy Marshall, Jaime Witcomb, and Alice Hill for always working so tirelessly to bring authors and our books to as many readers as possible. Words can’t express how grateful I am. I’ve loved working with you all.

Thanks to the Janklow & Nesbit UK team, especially Ellis Hazelgrove, Maimy Suleiman, Ma’suma Amiri, Megan Browne, and Kirsty Gordon.

I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the people of the Isle of Lewis and Harris. Open and generous, and as unique as the islands themselves, the warmest of welcomes is always guaranteed, no matter the weather! Although the island of Kilmeray is entirely fictional (and loosely based on the uninhabited island of Scarp off the west coast of Harris), many of the places mentioned in The Blackhouse are very dear to my heart, due in no small part to those who live in them.

More specifically, I am incredibly grateful to Police Sergeant Donald John Macleod of Stornoway Police Station, for very patiently answering all of my questions about island policing. Thank you, too, to Marlene and Fraser Ralley, for kindly lending me their wonderful house in Cliff, where much of The Blackhouse was conceived. It was a magical few months.

The Ardshader storm in 1977, and the subsequent loss of three fishing boats and fifteen fishermen, was inspired by a real-life tragedy that happened on Lewis in March 1885. When a sudden gale forced the fishing fleets of Ness to return home, two boats decided to make for land on the northwest coast at Eoropie. When they became grounded on rocks instead, the villagers were forced to watch as every rescue attempt failed. All twelve fishermen drowned. Known as the Cunndal Drowning, a memorial now stands on a cliff above the bay where the boats tried to land. Every man who died was from the village of Eoropie, their names, ages, and addresses – from 1 Eoropie to 36 Eoropie – bring home just how devastating such a tragedy must have been for this small fishing community. This book is also dedicated to all the Hebridean fishermen who have lost their lives at sea over the years, and to the families that they left behind.