Meanwhile, dusk’s older brother night, which has hovered overhead this past hour, is beginning to lose its balance, beginning to fall. Soon everything will be different again, the same as it always is. Dusk has a last look round, but its vision is failing, its hearing dim. It has been everywhere, seen everything. It is time to go. It has already left. In its wake, in the dark, Slough House slumbers, Slough House snores.
But mostly, Slough House waits.
HUGE THANKS, AS EVER, to my friends at John Murray in London, and at Soho Press in New York, especially Mark Richards, Yassine Belkacemi, Emma Petfield and Becky Walsh over here, and Bronwen Hruska, Juliet Grames and Paul Oliver over there. And to Juliet Burton, of course, for keeping everything on track.
Some while ago, I was lucky enough to be present while Helen Giltrow and Steph Broadribb discussed Mr Tom Hiddleston. I hope I haven’t misrepresented their views. And questions asked by Mark Billingham, Sarah Hilary and Will Smith suggested some avenues I’m gratefully pursuing in this novel and the next. My thanks to all.
I’m grateful, too, to various readers for their enthusiasm, support, and gentle correction of error. Aakash Chakrabarty and David Craggs have been especially helpful, but all the many emailers, however brief their messages, lighten the days. And I’m indepted to the staff at Summertown Library in Oxford for tolerating my near-daily presence as I mooch around their shelves, shuffle through their DVDs, read their newspapers and use their computers. It’ll surprise them to learn that I do occasionally get some work done.
The rules of ‘Yellow Car’, as cited by Louisa in chapter 7, were laid down by Mr John Finnemore in his delightful Radio 4 series
MH
Oxford
September 2017
