And this might seem a little silly, but I also want to thank my cat, Paprika (Pepper, my lovely Pepper), who’s sat at my feet for almost all of my novels so far, a steadfast companion in a career that is, often, a solitary thing. She’s sick right now, and I’m not sure about the future, but for the moment, she’s lying on my bed, and she’s here. There’s a magic to that, when I read these acknowledgments in the future, and I remember this moment. My cat on my bed, coffee cooling on the desk beside me, piles of laundry mounting in my basket. A gift from me to me.
