The Dragonfly

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSMy thanks to Cheryl Robson, Andrew Walby, Ellen Cheshire and Simon Smith at Aurora Metro for their dedication to publishing emerging women writers – I’m lucky to be a beneficiary of their commitment; to my agent Laura Longrigg for her indefatigable faith in me and to my husband Steve and my mum Prue for holding me close while I was writing. Zita Adamson, Carole Pugh and my uncle Simon Williams have all been readers of early drafts of The Dragonfly and have given me constructive criticism and encouragement at every turn, which made all the difference in the world. Any nautical mistakes in the book are entirely my own, and my husband and I have committed a good many others while racketing around the European waterways. I’m more grateful than I can say to Phil and Maja Rollings for sharing so many of the adventures with us, and to Prue; Hilary and Lily; Tom, Stella, Gabriel and Louis; Judith and Steve; Jed – and Jack, my boy, for holding the ropes in the locks, getting the croissants in the morning, being good humoured in a crisis and sharing a medicinal glass of wine on deck when the day is done.