This book has my name on the cover, but it only reached this stage with the help of many:
Deirdre Lockhart at Brilliant Cut Editing and Emilie Haney at E.A.H. Creative.
I’m indebted (or my characters are!) to Matthew and Russell Sketchley for significant developmental input, and to my sharp-eyed advance readers, Janice L. Dick, Heidi Newell, Ruth Ann Adams, who caught some final details just in time.
A number of fellow members of American Christian Fiction Writers suggested various options for Ciara’s injury, and each one was part of discovering what would and wouldn’t work. I’m especially grateful to Ronda Wells, MD, and Tracy Crump, former ICU nurse, for their in-depth information. Any medical mistakes in the book are mine! Thank you also to Nova Scotia Health’s Brendan Elliott, John Jenkins, MD, and Robert Zwicker, BScN, RN, MHS for answering my questions about the Lunenburg County hospitals.
Thank you to the good folks at The Ovens Park for allowing me to set a few key scenes there. If you visit Nova Scotia, do plan a day trip at the park.
A special shout-out to instructor (and author) Sandra Orchard and my fellow students at the Write! Canada 2021 online fiction intensive. If I’d kept the original opening, you might not have read the book.
I rely on my friends and fellow writers in the Metro Christian Writers group for insights, encouragement, and prayer.
And family! Russell, Adam, Amanda, Nathan, Andrew, Adrianne, and Matthew, plus our little one who’ll be a newborn when this book releases. Mom and Dad W and Mom and Dad S. And the extended branches on both sides of the tree. My family makes life precious.
Lastly but most importantly, I thank our good God for the privilege to create with words. If anything in this book has touched your spirit or encouraged you, that’s an answer to prayer. Anything amiss is my shortcoming, and anything excellent has His touch.