The completion of this story in itself makes quite a story, and perhaps someday I’ll write it. Until then, it must suffice that I acknowledge and thank the featured characters.
Above all, I salaam my personal holy trinity: Marc Glick, who gives attorneys a good name, and thank God knows how to spot a diamond in the rough; Jess Taylor for brilliant editorial assistance and hilariously helpful sarcasm along the way; and Liz Darhansoff, agent extraordinaire and super-woman. Steve Breimer and Jon Karas round out an exceptional teulu that I feel blessed to have on my side.
Jennifer Brehl, my editor at Morrow, has the amazing ability to help me actually enjoy performing surgery on my firstborn child.
Alan and Maureen Crumpler were so generous that folks assume I’m exaggerating when I describe them. They had barely met me when they invited me into their home to finish the manuscript, providing the best writer’s retreat I could ever ask for—as well as fonts of knowledge on nearly every topic, and delightful dinner conversations to boot.
Ray Thomas—innkeeper of The Lion, raconteur, and native son—brought Radnorshire (Maelienydd) to life for me far beyond mere bookish scholarship. He also afforded me the chance to see the land from horseback (and J.S. the horse helped me to examine the bracken at very, very close proximity). The next time you’re in Wales, stay at The Lion in Llanbister.
On the home front, Steve Lewis offered extraordinary support, belief, patience, love, food, and computer help throughout the first draft. The second draft would have been so much harder to complete without the assistance of my father, Leo Galland, in getting to Wales; the third draft likewise was abetted by my grandparents Rachel and Hans William Galland.
Brian Caspe and Eowyn Mader were my first readers and critics; their enthusiasm gave me the enthusiasm to go on to a second draft.
Beryl and David Vaughan, like the song says, made me a pallet on their floor when I had no place to go; Robert (Jippity) Sicular has done likewise through the years, as have my parents Mike and Karen Colaneri. Laurence Bouvard was and is a font of linguistic insight, hospitality, and camaraderie in London. Alene Sibley and Bonnie Corso offered spiritual sanity, and Paul Hyman all the other sanities. Julian Lopez-Morillas provided some eleventh-hour reality checks, and Bonnie Akimoto offered end-of-the-haul enthusiasm. And Lorien, praise be, both listened and insisted.
Sion Davies set me straight on history and tried valiantly to keep me honest. I am responsible for any failings, deliberate or otherwise, therein.
Paul Remfry’s writings on the castles of Radorshire grounded my imagination in reality. I’m also indebted to the work of John Davies (A History of Wales), Thomas Peter Ellis (Welsh Tribal Law and Customs in the Middle Ages), H. W. Howse (Radnorshire), and editor Thomas Charles-Edwards (The Welsh King and His Court). The full list of source material is far too long to include here, but for those interested in primary sources, Gerald of Wales (see chapter 4) is very readable and can be unintentionally hilarious. There is also the Law of Hywel Dda and The Chronicle of the Princes.
I also want to thank the many people who contributed in smaller but still deeply appreciated ways. This includes Carys-Hedd of the Mid-Wales Film Commission, and other helpful souls, who know more than I ever will, at the British Library, the National Library of Wales, and St. Fagins; it includes also Mary Remnant, the patron saint of early music, and Gail Tipton, my intrepid fellow wanderer on my first two trips to Wales. I often relied on the kindness of strangers, especially in Cymru. Sundry passing navigators at each crossroad that I came to helped me in all sorts of ways. There are too many to keep track of, but they include: the entire village of Llanbister, Rhian Davies Wooldridge and Glynn Davies, my grandmother’s ghost (for telling me to take the tart), Kalimata, David Hatcher, Cadw, and all the folks who played traditional music for me. Diolch yn fawr.
Finally, a special thanks to each genuine, rare Fool it has been my pleasure, pain, and privilege to know—and you know who you are.