When Phil comes back into the room I’m still standing by the window, memories of Mum and toast and jam and Radio 2 and Geoffrey’s voice flooding my head. This is it, I think to myself, this is the place. As Phil resumes his sales pitch, I switch off and let my thoughts wander. I have seen many houses and have come to realize that none of what Phil is talking about matters – expensive paint, room for expansion, all the marketing guff I’ve heard along the way. No, what matters is the feeling I had when I walked into this little house today. And that is why I make Phil an offer on the spot. I’ve spent so long living through other people, adopting different identities, taking different names, that somewhere along the line I forgot who I was. I guess I was afraid of who I might find if I dropped the act and looked in the mirror. But now I realize that there was no need to be afraid, that to be truly happy, to truly live, I don’t need to hide behind stories. I just need to be me. Vanessa. And that, as my mother always told me, is enough.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my amazing editor, Katy Loftus, for believing in me, and this novel, from the start.

Huge thanks to Victoria Moynes for your excellent insight and suggestions. It has been such a joy to work with you.

To the magnificent team at Viking Penguin. Thank you Ellie Hudson and Georgia Taylor for all the hard work you have put into the digital and marketing campaigns for my novels. I appreciate it so much.

Thanks so much to Karen Whitlock for your meticulous copy-editing.

Heartfelt thanks to my agent, Madeleine Milburn. Eight years on, you are still the greatest inspiration and support.

Thanks also to Giles, Hayley, Rachel, Georgia, Georgina, Mark and all the team at the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the eternally glamorous Anne Bryce for giving me an insight into the world of property and house viewings and for welcoming me so warmly to Harrogate all those years ago when I was a young mum.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to the children’s fiction that shaped my own childhood and introduced me to the wonder of reading. Here are just a few: Orlando the Marmalade Cat by Kathleen Hale, The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston, Moondial by Helen Cresswell, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl, The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy, The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter and A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley.

Love and warm wishes go, as always, to my family for all their love and support.