by Nikki Smith
To Amanda Reynolds who mentored me and has now become a hugely valued friend and confidante. Winning her competition truly changed my life and I will be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from her experience.
To all my family - particularly my parents, who instilled in me a passion for reading and a love of books from an early age. They were in Australia when I told them I had a book deal (and I’m not sure if they actually believed me) and I’d like to thank them for everything they have done for me, and continue to do.
To my grandmother, Lily, who sadly died before she knew about this novel, but the legacy she left me in her will enabled me to sign up for a course at Curtis Brown Creative which confirmed just how much I wanted to write this book (as well as how much I had to learn!). Thank you to Anna, Jack and Katie at CBC for all their help.
And finally, above all, to my husband, Martin. Who knows life is short and encouraged me to take a risk. Without his support I never would have followed my dreams and written this at all. I love you. Always.
About the Author
Nikki Smith studied English Literature at Birmingham University, before pursuing a career in finance. Following a ‘now or never’ moment, she applied for a Curtis Brown Creative course where she started writing this book. She lives near Guildford with her family and a cat who thinks she’s a dog.
All In Her Head is her debut novel.
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Orion Fiction,
an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd.,
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
Copyright © Nikki Smith 2020
The moral right of Nikki Smith to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (Hardback) 9781409192978
ISBN (Export Trade Paperback) 9781409192985
ISBN (eBook) 9781409193005
www.orionbooks.co.uk
