Whether you’ve stayed late to work on proofs, been the one who came up with the ‘tagline’ (Holly, you understood the essence of Penny Bridge’s dilemma better than I did!), were in the room as titles were thrown around, bonus content ideas were floated, or cover designs fussed over … whether you were selecting actors for the audio, convincing bookshops to order more copies, leveraging brand partnerships or talking to journalists, know that I appreciate every single contribution and I wish there was a way to put all our names on the cover, because I meant what I said about standing on the shoulders of giants. I write the words but you get them read, and that’s what makes this worthwhile. Thank you.

To everyone in international sales and territories:

Ben Wright – International Sales Director

Emily Yolland – Rights Assistant

Iona Teixeira Stevens – Rights Manager

Zoe Shine – Head of UK Rights

… and the HCUK Rights Team

Brigitta Doyle – Publishing Director, HarperCollins Australia

… and the HarperCollins Australia Team

Peter Borcsok – Sales Manager, HarperCollins Canada

… and the HarperCollins Canada Team

Emily Gerbner – Digital Marketing Manager, Harper360

Jean Marie Kelly – Affiliate Publisher, Harper360

… and the Harper360 Team

If the name of my game is to find readers who care about the same stories that I do, you’re the ones helping that to happen beyond the UK. To think these books get to go global – that is staggering to me, and anytime you need me to take a business trip to, say, Toronto or Sydney or NYC, you just let me know. It’s the least I can do to say thank you for representing worldwide! (That’s partly a joke, and partly a plea to rack up some airmiles to places I’ve never been before … International book tour, anyone?)

When I was developing The Love Square my planning coincided with fundraising for my grandmother’s nursing home. I auctioned off the chance to have a character named after anyone who donated £1 or more, and the winner was Sharon Harris. Sharon, I hope Sharon in the book is the kind of woman who does you proud! Thank you everyone who contributed to that, too – I wanted to raise £500 and we ended up raising over four times that. What a feat!

Thank you to Jamie Varon, for being my beta-reader and fellow Gemini-psyche-exploring-other-women-aren’t-the-competition soul sister who knows just what to say to get me to push myself that last little bit. Lauren Mahon, thank you for sharing your stories as a breast cancer survivor with me. Google her brand GirlvsCancer! Lauren was served lemons but made lemonade after her own diagnosis, and she inspires me madly. Thomas Hardy – I loosely borrowed the plot of The Love Square from Far From the Madding Crowd, and Penny Bridge is absolutely modelled on Bathsheba Everdene, so a big shout-out for representing complex and three-dimensional female characters all the way back in 1874.