The Stranger in the Mirror: A Memoir of Middle Age

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The author’s name on the title page gives the impression that writing a book is an individual enterprise, but of course it is not. I should like to thank my agent, Ed Victor, and my editors, Alison Samuel, Becky Hardie and Clara Farmer, for their encouragement and patience. I am grateful to Beth Humphries for her perceptive copy-editing, Parisa Ebrahimi for her calm and meticulous help with the final details and Audrey Bardou for her eloquent photography. Juliet Brooke kept me company on the photoshoot – a task well beyond the ordinary call of editorial duty. The London Library was indispensable, both as a resource and a sanctuary. It is hard to imagine a writing life without it.

I am very grateful to Brian MacArthur, Sandra Parsons, Michael Prodger, David Sexton, Gaby Wood and, especially, Sarah Sands, for keeping me afloat financially during the eventful gestation of this book.

My love and thanks to Sarah Crompton, Andrew Hayward, Sarah Lock, Colonel John Mennell, Pip Moon, the Selby family, Audrey Shilling and Helen Williams, all of whom at various times encouraged me – sometimes quite forcefully – to kick on. Several people not mentioned by name here played heroic roles in helping me to get started and, having started, to continue. You know who you are and how much I owe you. Molly, Nico and Caspar make everything seem better. My dear son Alexander tolerates with patience and generosity the trials of having a writing mother. He is the point of it all.

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