Hostage - Clare Mackintosh Page 0,133

with disabilities to take to the skies. The work they do is truly groundbreaking, and it was a privilege to help with their fundraising efforts.

I’m grateful to Rhonda Hierons, for sharing her experiences of attachment disorder, and to friends who have spoken to me about adopting children. The impact of a chaotic, neglectful, or abusive start in life is profound and long-lasting, and I am in awe of parents who give such children a safe and happy home.

There will be many pilots, aviation engineers, and crew keen to tell me what I got wrong about cabin configuration, shift patterns, landing procedure, and much more. I respectfully refer you to the (fictional) customer services department at World Airlines, who will be delighted to handle your complaints. For my part, I am tremendously grateful to air traffic controller Charlotte Anderson and air crew training specialist (Emirates) Gillian Fulke for their advice and expertise, and to Tony and Athena for welcoming me to the Emirates Aviation Experience, where my son Josh and I got to land a B777 at Sydney airport in the precise conditions faced by Mina in this book. Several pilots from around the world helped with my research, and one in particular—who has asked not to be named—was incredibly generous with his time. He sent annotated photographs with Mina’s precise descent path, talked me through the landing, and answered numerous questions about everything from fighter jets to cloud cover. I hope he knows how grateful I am. All mistakes are mine, made mostly for the benefit of the story.

My thanks, too, to my eagle-eyed agent Sheila Crowley, for pointing out that footballer Jamie Crawford couldn’t possibly be jetting off to Australia at such a critical time in the season, and to Graham Brown for confirming that even if Jamie were injured, he would be required to stay and support the training. Thus Jamie retired gracefully somewhere between drafts two and three.

Sheila Crowley, of Curtis Brown Talent and Literary Agency, isn’t just a football (and rugby) fan. She’s an incredible agent, mentor and strategist, and a dear friend. There is no one I would rather have in my corner than Sheila, and my thanks go to Sabhbh Curran and Emily Harris for their hard work as part of the CB team.

I have been fortunate enough to have the same editor—Lucy Malagoni—since my debut novel was acquired in 2013. She is astute and ambitious and pushes me a little harder with each book, which is exactly the way I like it. She is just one in an outstanding team of passionate and hardworking people at Little, Brown Book Group, by which I am very proud to be published. There isn’t space to acknowledge every person in the art department, sales, marketing, accounts, publicity, audio…but I value every single one of you. Particular thanks must go to Gemma Shelley, Brionee Fenlon, Kirsteen Astor, Millie Seaward, Rosanna Forte, and Abby Parsons, and to Linda McQueen, copy editor extraordinaire.

Thank you to Andy Hine, Kate Hibbert, and Helena Doree in the rights team, who have collectively brought my books to readers in forty countries and counting. I have some truly brilliant editors across the world and love seeing how you shape my books for your market.

I don’t have room to thank each of my publishers individually, but I want to make a special case for my U.S. team. The moment I started talking books with Shana Drehs and Molly Waxman, I knew I’d found the right home for Hostage in Sourcebooks Landmark. Their passion and responsiveness has been amazing, and I’m so grateful for their faith in me. Production editor Jessica Thelander and proofreader Sabrina Baskey spotted an embarrassing number of errors, thereby saving me from abject humiliation. Thank you, Jessica and Sabrina! Working closely with the Sourcebooks team has been publicist extraordinaire Meagan Harris, who is a joy to work with and who has helped me reach more readers than I could ever have hoped for

That brings me neatly to the most important people of all: readers. Whether you’ve been with me from the start or whether this is the first of my books you’ve read, whether you read ebooks, borrowed books, audiobooks, hardbacks, paperbacks, whether you read one book a year or a hundred—thank you. You are the reason I am able to make a living doing something I love. Please keep leaving reviews, keep supporting independent bookshops where you can, keep using libraries. Keep reading. If you’re not already a member of my book club, I’d love to see you there: claremackintosh.com/jointheclub.

Last but by no means least, thank you to Rob, Josh, Evie, and George, for putting up with me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo © Astrid di Crollalanza

Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of four Sunday Times bestselling novels. Her first three novels were all Richard and Judy Book Club picks. Translated into forty languages, her books have sold more than two million copies worldwide, have been New York Times and international bestsellers, and have spent a combined total of fifty weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller chart. Clare lives in North Wales with her husband and their three children.

For more information, visit Clare’s website claremackintosh.com or find her at facebook.com/ClareMackWrites or on Twitter @ClareMackint0sh.

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