A few years ago, my then-five-year-old daughter asked: “What’s taking you so long with your book, Mommy? Is it all the words?”
There’s a lot of words in my life, and I want first to thank my husband, James Bow, who has loved me through more than a million of them. Thanks also to my early readers Rebecca, Seánan, and Susan, who walked me through chapter by chapter, step by step. Seánan in particular was there for long Internet chats, usually in the middle of the night her time, in which she helped me feel my way to the story in a dozen lost-in-darkness places. Thanks and love to my in-person writers’ group, the Hopeful Writers — Kristen, Nan, Pamela, Susan again, and our much-missed late friend Esther — who read bits and held hands. My online friends at Wri, too many to name, listened to me whinge about stuckedness. Thank you all.
Now, research. As my last book was set in a fantastical world that was recognizably Eastern European, this one is set in a fantastical world that’s recognizably North American. (It’s worth noting, though, that the Shadowed People are not meant to represent any particular indigenous culture.) It takes a lot of research to build a rounded world. My characters and I would like to thank the folks at the ethnobotany project at the University of Minnesota, for tending to our aches and pains; wild food and foraging experts Mike and Christine, for keeping Kestrel and Otter from starving; ancient technology expert Ashti, for tending to the fires; and sacred drummer Nicholas, for helping Orca find his beat. The late Buffalo Bird Woman’s ethnographic testimony gave Westmost its lodges and gardens. There were more folks lending a hand along the way, setting dyes, knapping flint, ruining cities, and more. A thousand thanks to all of them.
This book took some time to find its shape. Thanks to my agent, Emily, who believed in it when it was shapeless. And thanks to Arthur, the other Emily, and the rest of the folks at Arthur A. Levine Books and Scholastic for their keen editorial eyes. I hope that Otter’s book is sharp, strong, and sweet — but if it is, it’s because Arthur and Emily helped me see.
Finally, this book in which so much family stuff goes wrong would not be possible without a life in which family stuff goes right. Thank you to my parents, who thought they were raising a scientist but embraced the writer without hesitating, and only occasionally express their worry that I will end up under a bridge. And thanks to my own two lovely little girls. Vivian, Nora: You are the music of my heart.