Acknowledgements

This novel arose from a story overheard at a potluck dinner in Laramie, Wyoming. I’m grateful to Jeanne Holland for telling that story with her usual panache. But the book found its true center as I traveled the back roads of Carbon and Sweetwater counties with Gary DeMarcay, who was then an archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management. I’m grateful to Gary for showing me that landscape in all its beauty and strangeness. I’m also grateful to the late Staige Blackford, editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, who published the story “Snow, Ashes” in 2001.

Thank you also to my readers Kim Kafka, Beth Kephart, Janet Holmes, Alison Harkin, Mark Miller, and Mandy Hoy. The National Endowment for the Arts, the Wyoming Arts Council, and the Christopher Isherwood Foundation all provided financial support. Sharon Dynak and the Ucross Foundation gave me safe harbor when I needed it most. Carol Bowers and the excellent staff at the American Heritage Center located the documents and photographs I craved. David Romtvedt and Simon Iberlin helped me with the Basque phrases. Bob Townsend of the Owen Wister Review and Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network graciously published excerpts from the manuscript.

Bob Southard talked me through dozens of drafts. He is a dream critic.

Gail Hochman stayed committed to the manuscript. Katie Dublinski, Anne Czarniecki, Fiona McCrae, and the staff at Graywolf Press were patient and passionate. I consider myself very lucky to work with such wise and far-seeing professionals.

Finally, this book is dedicated in no small part to soldiers lost and found. It was written about war during a time of war. I remain humbled by the stories carried home by those who have fought in uniform.