Thank you to Steven Barclay, for a little space in Paris when it was most needed.
I am indebted to Dr. Marloes Janson, whose engrossing, thoughtful and inspiring anthropological study Islam, Youth, and Modernity in the Gambia: The Tablighi Jama‘at proved invaluable, bringing context where I had impressions, possible answers when I had questions, and providing many of the cultural underpinnings of this story, as well as helping create the feel and texture of certain scenes in the novel. A note on geography: North London, in these pages, is a state of mind. Some streets may not appear as they do in Google Maps.
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Nick, Kit, Hal—love and gratitude.