‘Go on then,’ I said, wetting him, and he lunged after me with a gleeful shout, following me into the cold, deep water, both of us relishing the heart-stopping surrender of diving in, simply because we could.

Acknowledgements

I dedicated this book to Katie, because as my editor her work ethic, kindness, and making-a-book-even-better nous floors me every day. Between her, Sabah Khan and Ella Kahn, the three women I have most contact with during the writing and publishing process, I feel truly held and supported, and that means I can do my job better. So. Thank you, all.

I wrote this book during the height of a global pandemic, where my only role in keeping my community safe was to stay home and work in my pants from the sofa. To the people who did the real work of protection, I am just so humbled. It seems silly to put that in a book in a lot of ways, but I don’t know where else to say it. On paper and in ink seems as good a home as any in which to shout: fucking hell. Key workers, we owe you everything.

And to the readers, bookshop workers and bookstagrammers who tell me they’ve enjoyed my work and encourage others to read it too: I am humbled. I hope you found this to be my most joyful and escapist yet. I think about you with every word, on every page. I do it to make you smile. I hope The Lucky Escape was mission accomplished

Publishing Credits

It takes a village to birth a book (and a career!), and this is everyone in The Lucky Escape’s village to whom I am enormously grateful:

Team Avon:

Becci Mansell – Press Officer

El Slater – Marcomms Executive

Elisha Lundin – Editorial Assistant

Ellie Pilcher – Marketing Manager

Hannah Avery – Key Account Manager, International Sales

Hannah O’Brien – Marketing Director

Helen Huthwaite – Publishing Director

Katie Loughnane – Senior Commissioning Editor

Molly Walker-Sharp – Editor

Oli Malcolm – Executive Publisher

Rachel Faulkner-Willcocks – Senior Commissioning Editor

Sabah Khan – Head of Publicity

Sammy Luton – Key Account Manager

HarperCollins:

Alice Gomer – Head of International Sales

Ammara Isa – Marketing Manager

Anna Derkacz – Group Sales Director

Anne Rieley – Proofreader

Ben Hurd – Trade Marketing Director

Ben Wright – International Sales Director

Caroline Bovey – Key Account Manager

Caroline Young – Designer

Catriona Beamish – Production Controller

Charlotte Brown – Assistant Audio Editor

Charlotte Cross – Key Account Manager, International Sales

Georgina Ugen – Digital Sales Manager

Helena Newton – Copyeditor

Melissa Okusanya – Publishing Operations Director

Mia Jupp – Film & TV Team

Tom Dunstan – UK Sales Director

Rights and international:

Zoe Shine, Emily Yolland, Iona Teixeira Stevens and the HCUK Rights Team

Michael White and the HarperCollins Australia Team

Peter Borcsok and the HarperCollins Canada Team

Emily Gerbner, Jean Marie Kelly and the Harper360 Team

For naming Bianca and writing her back story via my Instagram: @tjj2287, also known as Tiff, from North Wales.

And for being my first and most encouraging reader: Calum McSwiggan. We’ve come a long way, baby.