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The graveyard book

Artist and author Audrey Niffenegger is also a graveyard guide, and she showed me around the ivy-covered marvel that is Highgate Cemetery West. A lot of what she told me crept into Chapters Six and Seven.

Many friends read this book as it was being written, and all of them offered wise suggestions—Dan Johnson, Gary K. Wolfe, John Crowley, Moby, Farah Mendlesohn, and Joe Sanders, among others. They spotted things I needed to fix. Still, I missed John M. Ford (1957–2006), who was my best critic of all.

Isabel Ford, Elise Howard, Sarah Odedina, and Clarissa Hutton were the book’s editors on both sides of the Atlantic. They made me look good. Michael Conroy directed the audio-book version with aplomb. Mr. McKean and Mr. Riddell both drew wonderfully, and differently. Merrilee Heifetz is the best agent in the world, and Dorie Simmonds made it happen excellently in the UK.

I wrote this book in many places: among other places, Jonathan and Jane’s Florida house, a cottage in Cornwall, a hotel room in New Orleans; and I failed to write in Tori’s house in Ireland because I had flu there instead. But she helped and inspired me, nonetheless.

And as I finish these thanks, the only thing I’m certain of is that I have forgotten not just one very important person but dozens of them. Sorry. But thank you all anyway.

—Neil Gaiman

I said

she’s gone

but I’m alive, I’m alive

I’m coming in the graveyard

to sing you to sleep now

—Tori Amos, “GRAVEYARD”

About the Author

NEIL GAIMAN is the author of several books for children, including the New York Times bestselling CORALINE; the collection of short stories for young readers M IS FOR MAGIC; and INTERWORLD, co-authored with Michael Reaves. His picture books include THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS and THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH, illustrated by Dave McKean, and THE DANGEROUS ALPHABET, illustrated by Gris Grimly. He wrote the script for the film MirrorMask and is also the author of nationally bestselling, critically acclaimed, and award-winning novels and short stories for adults as well as the Sandman series of graphic novels and other graphic novels, including the graphic novel adaptation of CORALINE. Among his many awards are the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States. Visit him online at www.mousecircus.com.

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Other Books by

NEIL GAIMAN

Coraline

M Is for Magic

Stardust

Illustrated Books

The Dangerous Alphabet

MirrorMask

The Wolves in the Walls

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

Credits

Copyright

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Text Copyright © 2008 by Neil Gaiman. Illustrations Copyright © 2008 by Dave McKean. “Graveyard” lyrics by Tori Amos, copyright © 2001, used by permission, courtesy of Sword & Stone, Inc (ASCAP). All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Mobipocket Reader August 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-170939-5

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