Acknowledgements
We are the people we surround ourselves with, and I had the absolute privilege to share the serendipitous journey this project has been with beautiful souls and great minds. I am indebted to many people, and here I have space to mention only some of those who contributed the most to this book, which is about apologies, but starts with thanks.
I am forever grateful to:
Alan Partington, for showing me the bigger picture and articulating my thoughts the countless times I struggled to find the right words;
Jonathan Culpeper, for providing invaluable comments during many stages of the writing process. The few ideas worth sharing in this book were first developed during our meetings;
Motoko Ueyama, for painstakingly correcting my clumsy drafts over and over again;
Dániel Kádár, whose suggestions helped me clarify some key points in the text;
Naoko Tanigaki, for keeping a straight face when I was asking for advice on seemingly non-sense and undoubtedly very boring pieces of data;
Kazumi Karaki, for kindly translating the haiku that opens the concluding chapter;
Maurizio Sanza and Laura Grassi, for helping me format the book.
Last but not least, I wouldn’t have made it this far without the unconditional support of my family, and Andrea, the love of my life. Thank you all.