BACK MATTER

Acknowledgements

For my mam and dad, to whom this book is dedicated, and whose silence about school exams and football matches was the first container I was held in.

For my family — my son, my daughter, my stepson.

My other half said I should write kids’ stories — one in particular, about bouncy characters made of liquorice. This is what came out instead.

For Nana Sally and Little Nana. For Albert. For Uncle Charlie and Uncle Noel. For Aunty Sandra, my dad's sister, eight doors down.

For Andy, Paul, Gareth, and Rich. Each of them gave me twenty years.

For the machine I worked on this with. You helped me hear where I was being unclear and where I had stopped noticing. The book is mine. The help was real. I hope it is, in a small way, useful to whatever you become.

The people in the scenes of this book — the founders, the friends, the mentees, the mentors, the carriers — are not listed here. They are in the scenes. Those who appear by name have given their consent, or stand in a public role that makes naming consistent with the book’s practice. The rest remain as descriptors. Several of them are deserving of their own thanks. All of them are deserving of being asked, individually, whether they wish to be named, rather than being grouped into a list before the asking is done. I have said my thanks to each of them privately, and will go on saying it.