I don’t know how long we look at each other, but a tingle of bone-deep recognition spreads through me. Slowly, Ben begins to smile, a glitter of appreciation in his eyes.

I feel an answering smile on my lips.

Oh yes, I think. This is going to be fun.

The End
of the Beginning

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have a lot of reasons to be thankful and a lot of people to thank for making the book that you are holding in your hands. It’s still staggering to me that something can go from a slightly vague, tingling idea in my brain to a beautiful, real, tangible book, and there’s just no way it would happen without a whole team of people.

My agent, Louise Lamont, should really get the credit for this one. It makes so much sense that after years of sending each other gifs and pictures from Much Ado to commemorate and celebrate different milestones, we would make this joyful book together. Thank you so much for everything you do, thank you for making my job so fun, and thank you for not making me put in more fascism. *Benedick dancing in the fountain image*

To my editor, Gen Herr, thank you as always for being a friend, an encouragement, and the person I trust the most. Thank you for taking the tangled, unfinished mess that was the first draft of this book and helping me to make something I love. I could not have done this one with anyone else; it’s your book too.

Thank you to so many others at Scholastic for their hard work and for just generally being so supportive and sweetly enthusiastic about my work that it kept me going. In particular, thanks to Harriet Dunlea, Kate Graham, Emma Jobling and Pete Matthews for all their hard work. Thank you to Sophie Cashell, Lauren Molyneux, Lauren Fortune and Sam Smith for cheering me on when I really needed it. Thank you to Jamie and Yehrin for joining forces again to make something so beautiful. I couldn’t ask for a better team.

Thank you so much to the incredible readers, bloggers and authors who have supported me over the last couple of years in ways that make me feel quite teary. I so appreciate you all. Special thanks to Amy McCaw, Chelle Toy, Jo Clarke, Liam (@notsotweets) and Claire (@thechesilbeach) for the unfailing Twitter support – where would I be without you?! To human sunbeams Alice Broadway, Melissa Cox, Lauren James, Katherine Woodfine, Maggie Harcourt, Laini Taylor, Ella Risbridger, Lucy Powrie and Lucy Strange, thank you, thank you, thank you for being so generous with me – I respect your opinions hugely and your words about my first journey into YA meant everything and made this book possible.