Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds

by Jeremy Lachlan

  Thanks also to agent extraordinaire Grace Heifetz at Curtis Brown Australia. I’m so very lucky to have such a fiercely intelligent, generous and caring person in my corner.

  They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but we all do it anyway, and when your cover’s this good, I say judge away! A huge thanks to HGE designer Pooja Desai and Italian artist Iacopo Bruno. You were the dream pick, Iaki, and I love this cover so much I nearly peed my pants when I first saw it.

  A thousand hugs and high-fives to all my family and friends who have shown me so much love over the years. A special shout-out to Brooke Davis, number-one sounding board and light of my life (we’re not in a relationship!); Claire Thompson, confidante and counsellor; Pip Smith, for opening one helluva big door; Charlie Mah, first teen reader; and Felicity Packard, who sparked the fire way-back-when. Thanks also to Sarah Hart, Mark Russell, Julia Loersch, George Poulakis, Simon Gauci, Steph Lax, Catherine Pye, Holly Ringland, Gabrielle Tozer, Amanda Bradford, Ollie and Rosie, Juully and Bill Lyons, team Oscar & Friends, Indiana Jones, Bailey the Golden Lab, and every cool dog I’ve ever met.

  Mum, you really are a wonder. Thank you so much for your unwavering love and support. Sharing this wild ride with you has been such a thrill. Dad, I love you, I miss you. Tim and Nic, my dear siblings, thanks for putting up with me all these years. Karen, our lifelong friendship means all the worlds to me. Brooke, yes, you get a second thank-you because you’re pretty great. And to my future husband, I don’t know who or where you are, but how dare you not be here for this. You owe me cake. Lots of cake.

  Finally, a heartfelt thanks to all the storytellers out there, past and present, who have entertained, thrilled, consoled, inspired and educated me throughout my life, and to YOU, dear reader, for diving into Jane’s world. I hope you had fun. I’ll see you all again soon.

  Jeremy

  Jeremy Lachlan was born and raised in Griffith, country New South Wales, and completed his honours degree in Creative Writing at the University of Canberra in 2004. Since then, he has won no writing prizes of any kind, but he did once take home $100 in a karaoke competition. He’s super proud of this.

  He now calls Sydney home, is slightly obsessed with dogs, and often wonders why we can’t whistle and smile at the same time. Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds is his debut novel.

  Twitter: @jeremylachlan

  Instagram: @jeremy.lachlan

  Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds

  first published in 2018 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

  eISBN 9781743585764

  Text copyright © 2018 Jeremy Lachlan

  Design copyright © 2018 Hardie Grant Egmont Illustration by Iacopo Bruno

  Series and cover design by Pooja Desai

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