I spent so many years alone in my room, working on making the End of Forever books come to life that I forgot how many people were outside that room, advising, cajoling, inspiring, bolstering, believing. I’d like to gratefully acknowledge their help and support.
Many thanks:
To Carl, my first husband, for introducing me to London and for giving me my first child, Natasha, when we were both so young.
To Natasha, who has brought me so much joy and who has grown up into such a remarkable young woman, who, among many other things, kept the running lists of hundreds of titles we considered for the EOF books, and who very early on said, “I love Julian,” when she read The Tiger Catcher, and I knew then we were going to be okay because she is a tough critic.
To my last child, Tania, who kindly allowed her mother to drive her to school every morning at 7:30 and therefore get to her studio early; otherwise these books might have taken another five years to finish.
To my sons, Misha and Kevin, for banding together and keeping the household machinery running and the jokes flowing.
To Lee Sobel, for his friendship and advice in good times and dire, and to Declan Redfern, for his invaluable counsel.
To Jennifer Richards of Over the River PR and to Fiona Marsh and Kate Appleton of Midas PR, my U.S. and U.K. publicity teams, for their tireless efforts on behalf of the End of Forever books.
To Lorissa Shepstone, my website, graphics, and design guru, who’s created some real artifacts from my imaginary places.
To Nicole and Sissi, my constant devoted readers and friends, for running my fan club, my social media support groups and for being my cheerleaders both online and in life.
To Zakiyyah Job, a beautiful young woman who appeared on my driveway in 2015 as if by magic because she loved The Bronze Horseman and lent me her name for End of Forever, enriching my fictional world by her real-life presence.
To Kasia Malita, my Polish translator extraordinaire and my friend, for mailing me chocolates to keep me going, and for weeping when she read A Beggar’s Kingdom and calling me “a sorceress.” I hope she means the good kind.
To Shona Martyn, my publisher for fifteen years, who said to me in 2016, “You write it however you can, and whatever it will be in the end, we will figure out a way to publish it.”
To Michael Moynahan, who in 2011 spent considerable professional and personal resources to start me on this remarkable journey.
To Brian Murray—who made it all possible.
To Kevin, who for the last five years, the last 25 married years, the last 38 “best friends” years walked every day of both the real and creative life with me, which so often amounts to the same thing. Kevin is the one who said the books are everything. Just have faith.
Sometimes I joke with my readers that the only true happy ending to a Russian is when at the end of her journey, she finally learns the reason for her own suffering.
Well, these three End of Forever books are the reason and the end of the story of the last five years of my life.
I hope they bring you some happiness.
Paullina
2019