Author’s Note: I am most grateful for a writer’s bursary from the Scottish Arts Council – now Creative Scotland – received in 2003 that made this project possible. I would also like to thank all those whose patience and advice allowed me to polish and refine the final version of this book: Lee Brackstone, Mary Morris and Kate Ward at Faber, my agent Clare Conville, copyeditor Lorraine McCann, Merran Gunn and Stewart Bowman, and finally, my family, David Graham, Millie and Katherine, who gave me so much time.
This book is a work of fiction. All people, places and facts may or may not be a product of the author’s imagination.
ISBN 978–0–571–28235–7