Hira Pascoe – thank you for always saying exactly what I need to hear. In particular, thank you for being at the end of a phone when I called you from Prague, crying in the street and asking you how I would ever get Auschwitz out from under my skin.

A special thank you to my niece, Frankie Stubbs. Frankie, you were such a big part of this for me. You were the person I wanted to talk to so many times; your insights and your ideas and your emotional support were an absolute gift and I can’t think about the experience of writing this book without seeing you in there with me.

My dearest friends, Kerry and Kristina – I don’t know how I would have got through the Europe research trip without having you at the end of a phone, a video call, a WhatsApp message. Your spiritual wisdom, your loving friendship and your unquestioning support helped get me through five countries, four concentration camps, a few thousand miles and many tears! Thank you so much to our BL’s.

One of the highlights of that trip was our time in Vienna, where the story – both in my novel and in real life – began. I am hugely grateful to Gerhard Strass. Your private tour of Vienna just for us was so insightful, your company was delightful and your Third Man Museum is absolutely incredible.

For spiritual guidance and support, I am very grateful to Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen. The fact that we had never met did not stop you from generously giving your time to listen, talk, advise and support me in this process. Thank you for your generosity and your wisdom.

For expert insights relating to the Holocaust without which this manuscript would be full of holes, I am enormously indebted to Dr Jaime Ashworth, Prof. Arieh Iserles, Dganit Iserles, Annie Cohen and my brother Peter Kessler. I am extremely grateful to have had such expert readers to help me get as many details as possible as accurate and close to reality as I could. Any mistakes still in the text are entirely my responsibility.

I am also very grateful to Anna Lloyd, from the Holocaust Educational Trust, for a series of conversations which helped me become clearer about my responsibilities to young people and helped frame this book in the wider context of Holocaust texts.