Pitcairn, the mutiny on the Bounty, chaos theory, and a sense of being drawn to an isolated faraway island all resonated in my thoughts and feelings when Pedro sent his friendly email and like a mutineer I wanted to sail with the wind, because of a private chaos of heart.
Thanks too to Philippa Brewster. Halfway through working on this book I slipped into a cafard. Philippa called round every second Thursday for coffee and pages in progress. With her help I got back on course.
I revised my draft manuscript in the writers’ residence on Chloride Street in Broken Hill in the Australian outback. It was an ideal retreat. My thanks to Marvis Solfield, Broken Hill’s library manager, for arranging the residency and to Gillian Parry for recommending me.
This is the third of my books designed by Peter Campbell. This time there’s the added delight of his illustrations for the text. His collaboration reflects our abiding friendship. I’m grateful to Alan Samson, publisher at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, for his help and guidance. Georgina Capel, my agent, as ever gave her much valued support and advice. Anne Clements read the manuscript and made many a discerning comment and improving point. Naomi Narod watered my plants while I travelled.
And all thanks to my friends in Devon. There is a real Mill Cottage where Pam Mills lets me write. The swallows do return each year. And at the top of the lane is the Greenshields’ farm, where at the end of many a working day I’ve sat by the log fire in the inglenook to drink a glass of wine and to chat and joke with Renate and Annie.
London, Broken Hill, Devon, 2006
About the Author
Diana Souhami is the author of many highly acclaimed books: Selkirk’s Island, winner of the 2001 Whitbread Biography Award; The Trials of Radclyffe Hall, shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography and winner of the Lambda Literary Award; the bestselling Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter, winner of the Lambda Literary Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 1997; Natalie and Romaine; Gertrude and Alice; Greta and Cecil, Gluck: Her Biography; and others. She lives in London and Devon.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Copyright © 2008 by Diana Souhami
Cover design by Kathleen Lynch
ISBN: 978-1-4976-8373-0
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
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DIANA SOUHAMI
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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