Alarm Girl (18 page)

THANK YOU
, Holly Ainley, for your sensitive and thoughtful editing, and for the tender feeling you have shown my characters.

I am grateful to Vicky Blunden for inviting me into the Myriad fold and to Candida Lacey for giving me such a warm welcome.

Thank you to those people who read early drafts of the novel and who provided support and encouragement: Stefania Mastrorosa, Maria Tilyard, Juliet Mushens and Sinead Keegan, as well as the students and tutor in Adam Baron’s writers’ workshop at Kingston University, winter 2010.

Especial thanks to my trusted first reader, PV (aka Polar Bear).

Thank you, Mum and Dad, and thanks to the rest of my family, too, for being there when I need you.

Finally, thank you to my three favourite people on the planet: Bosie, Alvy and Ned, for the faith you have in me and for the ways in which you love me.

HANNAH VINCENT
began her writing career as a playwright. She is the author of plays including
The Burrow, Throwing Stones
(Royal Court) and
Hang
(National Theatre Studio). She studied drama at the University of East Anglia and has an MA in creative writing from Kingston University, London. Previously a BBC television script editor, she now teaches creative writing for the Open University and is studying for her PhD at the University of Sussex. She lives in Brighton.

www.myriadeditions.com