I held her eyes for a long time, to make sure she saw me. Really saw me. ‘You listen well,’ I said. ‘And then you do all you can to make sure it never happens again – to anyone. And where you see injustice, you say so, and you encourage others to do the same. Those are my terms.’

She held out her hand to shake mine. ‘They are fair terms,’ she said. And then she smiled again. ‘You’ve got a deal.’

‘All right,’ I said, sitting back. ‘Here is my story. It starts a long time ago, in a fairground in Vienna in 1936…’

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book has involved help, support, guidance and feedback from more people than anything I’ve ever written, and I am hugely grateful to everyone who has been on this journey with me.

First and foremost, a huge thank you to my dad, Harry Kessler, for providing the inspiration for this book – a story I’ve wanted to tell for many years – and for being so proud of me for finally doing it. I am so happy to be able to share it with you.

A big thank you to my mum, Merle Goldston, for always being my first reader, for loving my work and for making me feel like a superstar for every book I write.

Thank you also to Caroline Kessler for your sisterly support along the way. I am particularly grateful for your advice when I called you in a distressed state from Munich and you told me to use the feelings I was having to understand my characters even better. As always, your advice was spot on and exactly what I needed to hear.

I am lucky to have many writer friends who know what it’s like to go through the emotional rollercoaster of writing a novel and support each other along the way. There are three fabulous groups: the Folly Farm crew, the ladies of the Sofa and people of the Place. You are all incredibly special and amazing and I’m so grateful to have you all.

Amongst my writer friends, there have been a couple of stars who have shone particularly brightly for me with this book. Inbali Iserles – you were such an important and integral part of this journey for me, and knowing you were there in the background helped me to get through some of the particularly difficult moments. And Anna Wilson, thank you for your friendship and support. You get me and you get my books without ever needing to explain anything to you and I’m very grateful to have you in my life.

Claire Pipkin – thank you for sitting on the sofa in our living room and listening to me tell you the whole story. I think that was the first time I said it all out loud and you filled me with a belief that it might just work.