Consequently I must offer my heartfelt gratitude and thankfulness to my family, who all bore the brunt of a hollow-eyed, half-crazed wife/mother/sister/sister-in-law/daughter/daughter-in-law with remarkable equanimity and understanding. Without their help and support in keeping the home fires burning, The Missing Years would not have come into being—or at least, not for another twelve/fifteen/eighteen months or so . . . I still find it remarkable that the dreaded deadline was in fact met, and that is entirely due to these lovely people I am so fortunate to have in my life. Thank you all, you have my heart.

To my extraordinary agent, Marcy Posner—who coped with more than my usual levels of insecurity and neurosis on this project—I am, as ever, hugely indebted and enormously grateful. On the countless times when I felt unworthy to type even a single word, Marcy was able to offer advice and encouragement and keep me writing. Marcy: a million thank yous, I couldn’t have done it without you. And to Abbie and Rachel, also from FolioLit, thanks so much for your helpful comments and insights.

To Kerry Donovan and the wonderful team at Berkley and Penguin Random House: you are so much more than a deadline! My sincere thanks go to all of you for your encouragement, dedication and unstinting enthusiasm. I am so grateful, in what often seems like a world of instant gratification, to be working with a team of such talented professionals who are committed to nurturing long-term careers for their writers. Thank you for your commitment to The Missing Years; I am more than a little humbled by it.

Thank you to my lovely friend Faye Raincock, for a fabulous lunch laying out for me all the goings-on in newsrooms. The book took a turn away from that, but I think there’s something in there, and I think you, Faye, might be just the person to write it. And to all my friends, thank you for the unending supply of empathy, support, help with the kids (special mention to the wonderful Laura Dent, who took the boys to the school bus every day when I broke my leg), catch-up coffees, lunches and raucous dinners (another Not-New-Year, anyone?!). And thank you all for getting behind The French Girl. I’ve been so touched by how involved you’ve all been in generally getting the message out, and in buying the book for multiple family members. Same again for The Missing Years please, if you’d be so kind!