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Matt Haig is the number one bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, including How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Radleys. As a writer for children and young adults he has won the Blue Peter Book Award, the Smarties Book Prize and been nominated three times for the Carnegie Medal. His work has been published in over forty languages. @matthaig1 matthaig.com
Also By Matt Haig
The Dead Fathers Club
The Possession of Mr Cave
The Radleys
The Humans
Humans: An A–Z
Reasons to Stay Alive
How to Stop Time
For Children
The Runaway Troll
Shadow Forest
To Be A Cat
Echo Boy
A Boy Called Christmas
The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Father Christmas and Me
Published in Great Britain in 2018 by Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE
canongate.co.uk
Copyright © Matt Haig 2004
First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Jonathan Cape
This digital edition first published in 2017 by Canongate Books
The moral right of the author has been asserted
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 78689 322 2
eISBN 978 1 78689 323 9
To Andrea
The first role of a father and husband is to keep his family safe
David Beckham
Wisdom cries out in the streets and no man regards it
William Shakespeare
Contents
The Labrador Pact: Duty Over All
The Labrador Pact: Prepare for changes in human behaviour
The Labrador Pact: Learn from your elders
The Labrador Pact: Prediction equals protection