My UCLA Creative Writing Instructors were extraordinarily generous with their wisdom and kindness. Steven Wolfson, you were my first teacher and my first editor, and you are my own personal Obi-Wan. Mark Sarvas, I could listen to your lectures till the end of time. Trebor Healy, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on three scenes that benefited from your class—you can’t miss them! Robert Eversz, thank you for your detailed and thoughtful notes.
I once heard the opening statements at the awards ceremony of an association which recognizes editing in film, television, and documentaries: “…another year saving performers’ careers.” That’s how I feel about my editors: Aaron Schlechter, Leslie Molnar, and Laurel Robinson.
Thank you to the crew of The Lady Washington, especially Johann Steinke, captain extraordinaire, and bosun Ryan Karakai, for sharing their knowledge with me.
I was honored to experience the annual Delaware Days with the Delaware tribe. Jim Rementer is a worthy guardian of the Delawares’ language and traditions.
I was starstruck to meet Al Saguto, former master cordwainer at Colonial Williamsburg. But for Al and his apprentices, Mallie would have worn wooden clogs. The horror!
I was lucky to meet Harry Kyriakodis when he gave a lecture at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. His book Philadelphia’s Lost Waterfront was a wealth of information.
It has been a delight to correspond with Dauvit Horsbroch of the Scots Language Centre.
One of the highlights of this journey was visiting White’s Tavern with the Belfast Pub Crawl lead by Colin Brown.
The staff at the Ulster American Folk Park and the Ulster Folk Museum, and everyone in Belfast and Lisburn was warm and welcoming.
Thank you to William Grow from the Fireman’s Hall Museum in Philadelphia, for taking the time to answer my emails.
David and Ginger Hildebrand, from The Colonial Music Institute, helped me more than they know.
Hattie Frederick graciously took time to teach me the basics of cribbage and reviewed a scene to confirm it was portrayed accurately.
Thank you to Jack Marietta, author of Troubled Experiment: Crime and Justice in Pennsylvania, 1682-1800. His book and answers to my questions were invaluable.
Thank you to Michael Horgan, from the California Blacksmith Association, and the blacksmiths at the Los Encinos State Historic Park, for keeping history alive.
Ben LeVasseur, an expert in cedar shingles, helped me fix a scene that would have been implausible as originally written.
Thank you to my suffering friends who read the very rough first drafts: Adrian, Jason, Mark, and Paul. Your encouraging words truly put wind beneath my wings.
Thank you to my friends and family, who waited year after year as I posted updates and almost theres. You never grew tired of cheering me on.
Baby Cakes! Thank you, Yvette, for being my best friend.
I have no words to express how grateful I am to you, my Wolf, for your generosity of heart. May your moccasins always be dry, and your path clear of logs and briars.
Indra Zuno was born in Mexico, where she enjoyed a successful career as a performer in theater and television before turning to writing. She was a recipient of the 2017–2018 UCLA Claire Carmichael Scholarship in Novel Writing, and was subsequently nominated for the 2017 UCLA James Kirkwood Prize in Creative Writing and the 2018 UCLA Allegra Johnson Writing Prize. As part of her extensive research for her debut novel, Freedom Dues, Indra spent time in Northern Ireland, Pennsylvania, and two weeks aboard The Lady Washington, an eighteenth-century replica tall ship. She met with the Master Cordwainer at Colonial Williamsburg and with a member of the Delaware tribe who is the Director of the Lenape Language Project. Immersing herself in her subject, she read over one hundred books on white servitude, the Delaware tribe, and Scots-Irish immigration, and reviewed original eighteenth-century court records at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Archives. To learn more, visit her website http://indrazuno.com/index.html, on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/indrazunowriter. Follow her on Twitter @IndraZuno and Instagram @IndraZuno.