Night of the Witch came about thanks to the Overworked Moms Writer Club Slack group and those dark, uncertain months at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Those two things, one a blessing, one a curse, paved the way for a conversation about the intersectionality of German medicinal women, brewers, and witches, and eventually, a book about a fierce witch and an honorable soldier.
We owe this book to that Slack group—thank you for bringing us together. But we do not owe this book to the COVID pandemic—we wrote this book in spite of it. Perseverance in the face of great sorrow, which we channeled into Night of the Witch.
Endless, heaping, gushing thanks is also owed to Sara’s agent, Amy Stapp, who fought so passionately for this book. Without your stewardship, Night of the Witch would still be nothing more than a shared Google doc. We also want to thank Beth’s agent, Merrilee Heifetz, for giving insightful notes and helping shape the story. And thank you to Taryn Fagerness, for being our overseas support and working so hard to bring this book to the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you, over and over for all eternity, to our editor, Annie Berger, for taking a chance on our witchy world. Beyond that, thank you for getting this book, for understanding it in a way that fostered our talent and confidence and joy. Working with you has been one of the great pleasures of our careers, and we are so infinitely lucky to have you on our team.
To Jenny Lopez—your enthusiasm will always make us smile! Thank you for being one of our support system pillars and for being such a rallying voice for this book.
To Madison Nankervis—thank you for your immediate and stunning championing of Night of the Witch. Knowing we have you backing us up means the world, and we cannot think of better hands for our book to be in.
To the additional members of the Sourcebooks team, who continue to render us awestruck with their support: Karen Masnica and Rebecca Atkinson for all things marketing and publicity; David Curtis, Liz Dresner, and Erin Fitzsimmons for providing us the beautiful cover art and design, gracing our story with an image both eerie and magical; and Thea Voutiritsas for shepherding the book through production.
To Trenton Bruce—thank you for tolerating Sara’s many varied emails about German language nuances. You went above and beyond what is expected from any brother-in-law. (And let it be known that any errors in regard to the German used in this book are entirely our own.)
To our families, for giving us space to dream and create, and then bringing us back to things that really matter.
From Sara: To Beth, for giving me a light in the darkness of these past years with this book and your friendship. It still shocks me silly how well met my soul is with yours, and I am so honored to have gotten to write this book with you.
From Beth: Sara! Words cannot say how much of an impact you’ve had on my life! Thank you for reminding me of the beauty and power of words, and for taking a chance with me as we discovered this story. The book may be fiction, but the magic was real.