Phoenix Du Rose

Dedication Sometimes these acknowledgements come easily and at other times, they can hold up publication. I owe so many of you my thanks for your support, your input and your guidance, and it can be difficult to single out anyone in particular. This book was produced during the dark days of lockdown and Covid 19, and it was born into a different world from the one in which I began writing it. I wrote of Phoenix’s experiences in the bush when I couldn’t venture more than a kilometre from home. And her conversation with her father at the end of the novel is poignant, because I still can’t visit mine in the UK. Nobody will come out of this experience unscathed. We’re not the same people who retreated to our homes and cut ourselves off from the rest of the world. We won’t be unchanged, but perhaps we’ll be more appreciative. So, this novel is for you, wherever you are and however you’re getting through. Kia kaha. Be strong.