While I was researching, I found references to how controversial the Courtaulds’ liberal views made them in Rhodesia, and how they were shunned by most of the white farming community. But there the trail went cold – either people didn’t know the details, or they felt that the truth was best left unsaid. And so, in the absence of detailed biographical information, I imagined what might have happened.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The Dragon Lady was informed by a number of sources. I have long admired and been influenced by Doris Lessing’s writing, and Jongy’s death scene was inspired by ‘A Sunrise on the Veld’. Other helpful sources include, but are not limited to, ‘An Oral History of Eltham Palace’ at the British Library, Virginia, Un Mondo Perduto by Bruno Ciliento and Caterina Olcese Spingardi, African Naturalist by David Happold, The Africa House by Christina Lamb and The Man on the Ice Cap by Nicholas Wollaston.

A book is a collaboration, and without the dynamic team at Bloomsbury Publishing, there would be no The Dragon Lady. My heartfelt thanks go to Nigel Newton, whose vision and enthusiasm made everything possible, and to Maggie Traugott for her brilliant and insightful readings. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my publisher, Stephanie Duncan, editor, Miranda Vaughan Jones, and copy editor, Claire Browne, for their wise, inspiring, and patient input – it was a joy and privilege to work with you. I would like to thank Ros Ellis, Rachel Murphy, James Watson and everyone at Bloomsbury who helped bring the book to life. Also Kathleen Carter, publicist extraordinaire.

Huge thanks to Toni Kirkpatrick for believing in my writing enough to publish The Lodger, and for her continued support and brilliant editorial input ever since.

I am extremely grateful to George Courtauld for his generosity and kindness in sharing his memories of his cousins, Stephen and Ginie, with me, and for giving me access to family letters. My thanks go to Professor Debby Swallow at the Courtauld Institute, to Andrew Hann, Sarah Moulden, and Frances Parton at English Heritage, and to David Scott and Sharon Waterworth at the National Trust of Zimbabwe. I am grateful to Arthur Douie and his daughter, Claire, Bruce Mennell, the late Darrel Plowes, Nina Bauer, Roger Fairlie, Ange Gale Wright, Kevin Martin, Harvey Leared, and Mary Armour for sharing their recollections and/or knowledge of the Courtaulds.