Tana French: Faithful Place

Faithful Place did exist once, but it was on the other side of the River Liffey-northside, in the warren of streets that made up the red-light district of Monto, rather than southside in the Liberties-and it was gone long before the events of this book. Every corner of the Liberties is layered with centuries of its own history, and I didn’t want to belittle any of that by pushing an actual street’s stories and inhabitants aside to make way for my fictional story and characters. So, instead, I’ve played fast and loose with Dublin geography: resurrected Faithful Place, moved it across the river, and added this book into the decades when the street doesn’t have a history of its own to be pushed aside.

As always, any inaccuracies, deliberate or otherwise, are mine.

I owe enormous thank-yous to the usual suspects, and then some: the amazing Darley Anderson and his team, especially Zoë, Maddie, Kasia, Rosanna and Caroline, for being several million miles beyond what any author could expect from an agency; Kendra Harpster at Viking, Ciara Considine at Hachette Books Ireland and Sue Fletcher at Hodder & Stoughton, three editors who regularly take my breath away with their passion, skill, and immense soundness; Clare Ferraro, Ben Petrone, Kate Lloyd and everyone at Viking; Breda Purdue, Ruth Shern, Ciara Doorley, Peter McNulty and everyone at Hachette Books Ireland; Swati Gamble, Katie Davison and everyone at Hodder & Stoughton; Rachel Burd, for another razor-sharp copy-edit; Pete St. John, for his beautiful love songs to Dublin and for his generosity in allowing me to quote from them; Adrienne Murphy, for remembering McGonagle’s even through the haze; Dr. Fearghas Ó Cochláin, for the medical bits; David Walsh, for answering questions about police procedure and sharing insights into a detective’s world; Louise Lowe, for coming up with such a great title (and cast) for that play, all those years ago; Ann-Marie Hardiman, Oonagh Montague, Catherine Farrell, Dee Roycroft, Vincenzo Latronico, Mary Kelly, Helena Burling, Stewart Roche, Cheryl Steckel and Fidelma Keogh, for various invaluable kinds of warmth and love and support; David Ryan, braccae tuae aperiuntur; my brother and sister-in-law, Alex French and Susan Collins, and my parents, Elena Hvostoff-Lombardi and David French, for more reasons than I have room to list; and, as always, last but so far from least, my husband, Anthony Breatnach.