People LIke Her(85)

One of these days.





Acknowledgments


A holiday spent with our baby daughter and close friends by an exceptionally cold swimming pool, with donkeys braying by the bedroom windows, was the birthplace of People Like Her. Thank you, Susan Henderson and Alicia Clarke, for putting up with the plotting and Matt Klose for keeping us all excellently fed.

Thank you to Holly Watt for nagging us to actually write it—and providing a shining example of how to get it right, sharp pointy awards and all, with To the Lions and The Dead Line. Catherine Jarvie, you also did not let up telling us we had to finish it and for that we are so grateful—as we are for your plot pearls of wisdom, your excitement about the book in general, and your close reading with an eagle eye. Kaz Fairs, you proved yet again you are much more than a Beaty face; thank you for your brilliant suggestions and feedback. To Lesley McGuire and Zu Rafalat too, some of our first readers. Zu, we miss you endlessly.

The hard work, kindness, and generosity of many people has been indispensable in bringing this project to fruition.

For their help, advice, friendship, encouragement, and support over the years, Paul would like to thank: Cara Harvey, Dorothea Gibbs, Florence Gibbs, Sarah Jackson, Julia Jordan, Louise Joy, Eric Langley, David McAllister, Bran Nicol and my other fantastic colleagues at Surrey, Claire Sargent, Oli Seares, Jane Vlitos, John Vlitos, and Katy Vlitos.

Collette would like to thank Janette, Douglas and Martyn Lyons, Jacqui Kavanagh and Joel Kitzmiller, Rachel Lauder, Alice Wignall, Clare Ferguson, Amy Little, Kate Apostolov, Mark Smith, Sagar Shah, Eleanor O’Carroll, Tanya Petsa, Beverley Churchill, Jo Lee, and Shelley Landale-Down.

For ensuring we actually had the time to write, thank you to Karen, Linda, Claire, Anwara, Soraya, Stacey, and Mel.

Sam McGuire and Amelie Crabb, keep writing your amazing stories—we can’t wait to buy your books one day.

We would both like to thank our agents, Emma Finn (thank you, Susan Armstrong, for sending us in her direction—we can’t imagine a pair of hands more capable, a sounding board more wise, and we feel extremely lucky) and Hillary Jacobson (whose cheerleading for the book was exceptional). Luke Speed and Jake Smith-Bosanquet and the brilliant C&W rights team, Laurie MacDonald for getting us excited about seeing Emmy and Dan on screen one day, Dr. Rebecca Martin for her medical knowledge, Alicia Clarke for her wonderful photographs, and Trevor Dolby for his time and encouragement.

Also, of course, our wonderful editors, Sam Humphreys and Sarah Stein, everyone at Mantle (Samantha, Alice, and Rosie especially) and at HarperCollins (Alicia, thank you!), and our amazingly supportive and encouraging early reviewers on NetGalley.

Very special thanks go to our daughter, Buffy.





About the Author


ELLERY LLOYD is the pseudonym for husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK), features editor of Stylist, and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Sunday Times, among others. Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day Is Like Sunday. He is the program director for English Literature with Creative Writing at the University of Surrey. They live in London with their baby daughter.

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