Christmas at the Cat Cafe

Acknowledgements

Much of this book was written either late at night or in the early hours of the morning, and it often felt like a solitary enterprise. Having finally emerged, blinking, into the daylight, I would like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to some of the people who helped along the way.

Firstly I need to acknowledge the work done by the real cat cafés which inspired this book. In the interests of a good story I have put Molly, Ming and the other cats through ordeals that I am certain they would never face in reality. Cat-café staff take the utmost care of their cats’ physical and emotional wellbeing, and I am quite sure they would be aghast at some – if not all – of the goings-on at Molly’s.

I would like to thank my agent Kate Burke, and also Chloe Seager at Diane Banks Associates.

Thank you to everyone at Pan Macmillan. To my diligent editor Victoria Hughes-Williams and the rest of the team: Natalie McCourt, Stuart Dwyer, Holly Sheldrake, Lloyd Jones, James Annal, Matthew Garrett and Jess Duffy. I appreciate all of your hard work behind the scenes.

To Debbie Nash, for being the ongoing inspiration for my (human) heroine, even though you are more of a dog person.

To my sister Emma, for your empathy, encouragement and support.

To my children, Suse and Louis, for your incredible patience throughout this process. Thank you Suse for being an eagle-eyed editor-in-training; your grammatical knowledge puts me to shame.

Lastly, and mostly, to Phil. Even with a broken leg, you kept the show on the road. Without you, this book wouldn’t have happened.

MD, 2016