Thank you for allowing me to take you on a trip through one of my favorite parts of the world: the Southern United States. From New Orleans to Natchez, from Memphis to Mobile and beyond, there is just something about returning to the land of magnolias and the Mississippi River that slows this Southern girl’s frantic pace to a more dignified stroll.
I credit this mind-set to the long line of Southern belles from which I descend. From my great-grandmother Viola McMinn to my grandmothers Dorris Simpson and Katie Aycock, I learned early on what it meant to be a lady of the Southern persuasion. The tradition continues in my mother, Bonnie Sue Miller, who faithfully took me to the Gates Library to feed my voracious need for the written word and who would never wear white after Labor Day. From the grit of these women comes the character of Millicent Meriwether Brimm. From the strength, intelligence, unaffected beauty, and good common sense of my own Southern Belle in Training, Hannah Y’Barbo, comes the essence of Millicent’s granddaughter Flora Brimm. Thank you, ladies, for the inspiration on and off the page.
This book is also dedicated to my brother, Farris Miller, who endured life with three sisters and yet always managed to be the Southern gentleman Daddy taught him to be, despite all the grief we gave him. Lucas McMinn gets that from you.
In the writing of this novel, I took special care to visit most of the locations where the story was set, including the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. While the greatest attention was taken in remaining accurate to the history of this lovely and grand establishment, I did take certain poetic license in several scenes. Foremost is the location of the ballroom, which in various reports was either on the topmost floor or on the bottom floor. Diagrams of the hotel show it to be on the ground floor, but currently there is a space on the fourth floor where it might have been. Owing to changes to the original blueprints as well as renovations over the years, I have chosen to place the ballroom in this tale on the fourth floor. This was a conscious choice that better showcased Flora Brimm’s peculiar talent for nimbly traversing narrow walkways set at great heights. Any error or risk of mistake in this matter is mine alone.
Also, while there are now several lovely suites at the Crescent Hotel, an 1886 blueprint does not show this type of room. However, I imagined that Flora’s imperious grandmother would settle for nothing less than a grand set of rooms on an upper floor with all the comforts and trimmings. Thus, this is what I gave her. What can an author do but listen when her character demands these things?
Though the popular myth of a writer’s life might lead readers to believe that a book is written in solitary hours with only the author in attendance, nothing could be further from the truth. It truly does take a team to produce a novel, and I am blessed to work with some of the best individuals in the industry. A huge thanks to Kim Moore and the gang at Harvest House for making me feel so very welcome, and to Wendy Lawton, agent and friend, for her guidance down this publishing path.
Finally…and always…to my husband, Robert Turner, my Ephesians 3:20 man, for playing copy editor, chauffeur, eye candy, trip planner, bodyguard, roadie, photographer extraordinaire, and purveyor of Reese’s cups in equal measure. Like Flora, I wished for happily ever after. In you, God allowed my wish to come true.