Special thanks to the team at Michael Joseph and Penguin Random House for believing in a couple of Irish girls. To Maxine Hitchcock, Clare Bowron, Claire Bush, Asmaa Isse, Matilda McDonald, Rebecca Hilsdon, Jenny Platt, Olivia Thomas and everyone else in London who have had such open hearts for Aisling. Thanks too to the team at Gill Books in Dublin who continue to make Aisling the best she can be, particularly Conor Nagle and Catherine Gough.
To Marian Keyes, Sarah Maria Griffin, Paul Howard, John Boyne and all of the authors who have made us feel so welcome and supported.
To Chelsea Morgan Hoffman, Rory Gilmartin and all at Element Pictures for trusting us with a screenplay and holding our hands every step of the way.
Big thanks to everyone at Curtis Brown, especially our agent Sheila Crowley, who’s probably the most fabulous woman we know. Thanks too to Luke Speed, Emily Harris and Sabhbh Curran at CB.
Thanks to our early readers and constant supporters: Aine Bambrick, Breda Gittons, Deirdre Ball, Gavan and Ciara Reilly, Eoin Matthews, Louise McSharry, Sophie White, Roisin Ingle, Abbie Greaves, the Naas gals, the Phantom gals. Thanks to Sarah Kisch, Richard Toner and Baby C for flying the OMGWACA flag way out east and to Fiona Hyde for the title. Thanks to Lin Manuel Miranda for the daily pep talks. Special thanks to Vicky Phelan for being an inspiration.
And finally to Louise Keegan, who’s been there since the start, wine in hand.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
Find us online and join the conversation
Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/penguinukbooks
Like us on Facebook facebook.com/penguinbooks
Share the love on Instagram instagram.com/penguinukbooks
Watch our authors on YouTube youtube.com/penguinbooks
Pin Penguin books to your Pinterest pinterest.com/penguinukbooks
Listen to audiobook clips at soundcloud.com/penguin-books
Find out more about the author and discover
your next read at penguin.co.uk
PENGUIN BOOKS
India | New Zealand | South Africa
Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in Ireland by Gill Books, an imprint of M.H. Gill and Co. 2019
First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph 2019
This edition published by Penguin Books 2020
Copyright © Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, 2019
The moral right of the authors has been asserted
Author photograph © Al Higgins
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual incidents or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-405-93825-9
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.