For everyone who helped with research, reading, mentorship, editing, and friendship over the past two years, I offer my heartfelt thanks.
My greatest thanks go to my author father, Gerald F. Sweeney—and his long memory and unconditional support—and to my husband, D. Michael Barclay, for both standing beside me every step of this literary and life journey.
In addition, I would like to thank my critique partners, Shelley Blanton-Stroud, Gretchen Cherington, and Debra Thomas, and early readers Tim Forsythe, Gail Lascik, Cathy Markham, Tisha O’Neil Smith, and Tom Wolf.
On the editorial side, thanks to editor Marilyn Janson, peer readers Janis Robinson Daly and Susan J. Tweit, proofreader Nancy Söderlund Tupper, and mapmaker Janet S. Hamill. And a debt of gratitude to She Writes Press publisher, Brooke Warner, project manager Lauren Wise Wait, cover designer Julie Metz, and the whole team and sisterhood at SWP.
On the marketing side, a big shout out to Blue Cottage Agency’s Krista Soukup, Janell Madison, and other Blue Cottage Agency authors. Also, a thousand thanks to my webmistress Anji Verlaque.
There are many other people to thank: Meg Hall of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, Russ Powers of the Colorado Railway Museum, and a host of others, in Ireland and the U.S.: Raffaelle Chiusano, Breda Donoghue, Kathleen Bradshaw Davis, Lawrence Coyne, Caroline Herriot, Barry Hopkins, Patricia Jacques, John and Barbara Joyce, Ruairi Keogh, Barry Moloney, Ellen Notbohm, Ann Pollington, Amanda Rogers, Bill Stringfellow, Oisin Sweeney, and Kevin Walsh.