I was also able to see the accreditation papers, passport, uniforms, telegrams, diary, and war correspondent badge of Virginia Irwin, one of the female correspondents, at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, England. These were all items Jess would have required, so it was wonderful to view them.

And then it was time to leave Europe and to try to write down the story that was occupying all of my thoughts. It’s my favorite of all of my books. I truly hope you enjoy reading The Paris Orphan as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you.

For photographs and more, visit my blog on natashalester.com.au.

Acknowledgments

As well as all the sources listed on the previous pages, there are many people I wish to thank. The most important of these is Rebecca Saunders at Hachette Australia, who makes me believe I can actually write books and that they are worth reading. Rebecca’s faith in me, her support of me and her encouragement are unflagging, and I know I wouldn’t be publishing my fourth historical novel if it wasn’t for her.

Everyone at Hachette Australia is wonderful, and I’m pretty sure I say in the back of each book how lucky I am to be published by them. But it’s true! Special thanks to Sophie Mayfield for her attention to detail and editorial assistance, and to Dan Pilkington for always galvanizing the sales team behind my books.

Thank you also to Celine Kelly for her astute structural editing and for helping me turn the book into the thing I hoped and imagined it could be. Alex Craig is the world’s best copyeditor, and I am once again so fortunate to have had her working on this book.

Leah Hultenschmidt at Grand Central in the United States and Viola Hayden at Sphere in the UK are both amazing editors to work with, and I am hugely grateful for their support and their belief in me.

To all my writerly friends, too many to list, for laughs when things are good and tissues when things aren’t so good, a big thank-you. Special thanks to Sara Foster, who always reads through my manuscripts and provides wonderful advice and suggestions just when I most need it.

David Scherman’s words, in the epigraph on page 1, and the quote from Lee Miller on page 131 are both reproduced from the book Lee Miller’s War: Beyond D-Day by kind permission of Palazzo Editions Limited and the Lee Miller Archive.

My three children are the loves of my life, and their excitement about my books—especially about the research trips to Europe that they get to accompany me on—is inspiring and makes me want to keep writing to make them proud. To my husband also, for never once doubting, thank you.

As always, to my readers, the biggest thank-you of all. Your emails and messages are the bright spots in my days, the sparks of encouragement whenever a book seems too tricky. I hope this book finds a place on your shelves too.