Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts for their generous support of this project. A warm thank you to my publisher Luciana Ricciutelli for her wholehearted and generous response to this work. Long after my travels in the year 2000, I want to acknowledge Nicole and Jean Lerolland, whose pension on the island of St. Pierre bore rich soil for the seed of this novel. Merci pour votre gentillesse. The mysterious clay vessel that Valerie discovers was inspired by the work of Israeli ceramist Judith Halfon. Thank you to Irene Guilford and Elizabeth Kaplan for reading earlier drafts of the manuscript and providing me with helpful insights and suggestions. And heartfelt thanks to you, Brian, my friend and companion at every stage of this long but fruitful journey.