Fathers and Sons (22 page)

I
wish to thank firstly my mother for her endless patience as I bombarded her with questions about the past. While it gave her immense pleasure to return to some of the memories, others were painful and recollection brought tears. Not only her own.

My cousin Peter was immensely helpful with factual details of our grandfather’s early life and gave me an alternative family account of how Geoffrey might have been left behind at Kiln Farm in 1907. He also corrected long-held misconceptions about Sarah who, I discovered, had tried so hard to be a mother to the abandoned boy.

My literary agent, Luigi Bonomi, came up with the idea for this book after a long lunch during which we swapped our family histories. His advice during the writing of it was invaluable.

Suzanne Baboneau at Simon & Schuster gave unstinting guidance and support, as well as friendship. Her wise notes to me after I submitted the first draft of
Fathers & Sons
were a
model of how to reconcile tact with frankness. Her encouragement throughout was endlessly reassuring.

Finally, my son Jack, who somehow found time to read the manuscript while taking his finals at university, and wrote the touching epilogue. I will never threaten to lock him in my car again.