Kalyna Beach is an imaginary place, although its geography is that of Georgian Bay, where my Aunt Vera and Uncle Gus had a cottage that was the paradise of my childhood. The characters in this novel are as imaginary as the setting, and bear no resemblance to the cottagers of that stretch of Georgian Bay where I was lucky enough to spend so many of my early summers.
Readers of Katherine Mansfield will recognize the debt that I owe to the author of “At the Bay.”
I am grateful for the acumen, patience and kindness of my agent, Dean Cooke, and to Iris Tupholme—editor extraordinaire—in reading and helping to shape so many versions of this book. My thanks to Irene Guilford and Donna McFarlane for their writerly responses to this work and to Taras Koznarsky for his help with my Ukrainian.