I am grateful not only to all those who helped and supported me while writing this book, but to the many scholars and writers whose research enabled me to depict history as accurately as possible. The howling errors and anachronisms that remain are, of course, entirely my own. In addition to numerous authors of published works I would like to thank several individuals for taking the time to answer my questions: Dr. Trudi Johnson, Dr. Garfield Fizzard, Dr. Elizabeth Murphy, and Linda White, all of Memorial University; Jennifer Lambert of Dalhousie University, and Maura Hanrahan.
The helpful staff of several vital institutions deserve gratitude: this book would have been far more difficult to write without the people at the Centre for Newfoundland Studies at Memorial University, the Newfoundland Collection at the A.C. Hunter Public Library, the Provincial Archives, the Road to Yesterday Museum in Bay Roberts, Starbucks on Kenmount Road (the customer with the raspberry mochas thanks you), and, of course, the modern-day Maggie Campbell for the generous use of her name.
A book is only half-finished when it leaves the writer’s hands; without a great publisher it rarely makes it into the hands of readers. Thanks to the wonderful team at Breakwater Books who believed in this book from the earliest stages, sometimes even more than I did. Particular thanks are due to my sharp-eyed editor, Marnie Parsons.
I am grateful as always to the Strident Women for support and encouragement and especially to Jennifer Morgan and Tina Chaulk for reading and critiquing the manuscript. Most of all, thanks to my long-suffering family: my parents, Don and Joan Morgan, always my best proofreaders and historical fact-checkers, and to Jason, Chris and Emma for putting up with me when I'm in the middle of writing a book – and at all other times.