My deep gratitude to the many people who have helped me during the writing of this book:
To my tireless and brilliant editor, Anita Chong at McClelland & Stewart, for her commitment, insight, and attention to detail; to my wonderful agent, Samantha Haywood, for her faith, vision, and help with early drafts, and for holding my hand throughout; and to my U.S. editors, Amanda Brower, for her passion, invaluable edits, and for the title of this book, and Carina Guiterman, for taking on the project midstream with such warmth and enthusiasm; to the teams at McClelland & Stewart and Little, Brown for helping to bring this book into the world; to copyeditor Heather Sangster and proofreader Catherine Marjoribanks, for their careful readings; and to Kelly Hill, for her beautiful cover design.
I gratefully acknowledge the support of Arts Nova Scotia.
I’ve been so fortunate to have many thoughtful teachers and dear friends who read early drafts of this novel and provided feedback and support: Terry Byrnes, Stephanie Bolster, Kate Sterns, Catherine Cooper, Maureen Green, Mary Catherine Karr, Susan Paddon, and Jocelyn Parr.
A special thank you to Edward Carson, Johanna Skibsrud, Rebecca Silver Slayter, and Amy Stuart, all of whom read closely and also helped me navigate the practical aspects of publishing a novel.
Love and thanks to my family for their support, especially my cousin, Georges Cunningham, for his translations; and my aunt, Jean Faber, for her excellent recall and fact-checking, and for sharing her memories. To my vóvó, Lucy Faber, and my mother, Susan Faber, both emigrated to another star, I miss you. Thank you for telling me your stories and inspiring so much of this novel. And to my father, Paul Vincent-Smith, for reminding me not only to see but to look.
Above all, I’m grateful to my husband, Oisín Curran, for his boundless encouragement and for reading almost as many drafts of this book as I have. And to our children, Fianan and Neva, for so much joy.