Acknowledgments

Writing a novel is a journey rife with danger. I am grateful to the brave souls who strapped on their sword-belts, grabbed sacks of provisions, and kept by my side on the way.

There were those who were crucial from the start. Thank you to my son, Benjamin, my first reader and editor, who has read and critiqued every draft. At the very beginning, you urged me to take the risky but exciting path at the cliff’s edge. You always posed incredible questions, and never stopped helping me perfect those cliffhanger chapter endings. Thank you also to my husband, Michael, my next reader. You read draft after draft and told me what you honestly thought of each one. Along this journey, you pushed and supported me. I am grateful to you both for always believing in me.

Thank you to my incredible agent, Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, whose suggestions and advice helped me to pull this novel out of the waves and onto the cliff-points to which we really could cling; and who found me my perfect editor, Kathy Dawson. Kathy, your questions and suggestions challenged and inspired me to race up to the highest point of the highest cliff. Thank you for never letting me take the easy trail. You regularly gave me the flush of courage that I needed to go ever farther.

I am immensely grateful to Antonio Javier Caparo for putting his extraordinary imagination and skill into the work of art that is my cover. Thank you, sir, for interpreting Drest so perfectly, and creating such a work of art to draw readers into Drest’s world.

Thank you to the whole team at Kathy Dawson Books and Penguin Young Readers: in particular, Susie Albert, Claire Evans, Maggie Edkins, Regina Castillo, Mina Chung, Judy Samuels, and Lily Yengle.

To my critique partner Anita Saxena and to Casey Lyall and Salma Wahdy: Thank you for reading drafts, sharing advice, and being stalwart supports and friends along the way. To the Freeport Community Library, the Maine State Library, and all the Maine libraries that are part of the Minerva and MaineCat networks: Thank you for providing the crucial resources I needed during my research. Special thanks to librarians Mary Lehmer and Joanne Libby, and librarian/teachers Julia Colvin and Lynne Perednia for their support, enthusiasm, and friendships. Many thanks as well to Nicole Rancourt and my other talented colleagues at the Maine Humanities Council for the same.

To my parents: Thank you for giving me own vast granite headland in which to grow up and for filling my young life with books. And to Mom: I wish you could have been here to see what this story has become. Your positive outlook even in the darkest times spurred me to write the tale of Drest. She would have loved you as much I do.