Thanks to Catherine “Perambulator” Knepper, whose encouragement helped me through an arduous series of revisions; to Umair Kazi for believing in Omeir; to the American Academy in Rome—and especially to John Ochsendorf—for once again granting me access to their brilliant community; and to Professor Denis Robichaud for repairing my neophytic Greek.

Thanks to Jacque and Hal Eastman for encouraging, to Jess Walter for understanding, and to Shirley O’Neil and Suzette Lamb for listening. Thanks to every librarian who helped me find a text I needed or didn’t yet know I needed. Thanks to Cort Conley for sending me interesting stuff. Thanks to Betsy Burton for being a champion. Thanks to Katy Sewall for helping me research Seymour’s incarceration.

Thanks to all the wonderful people at Scribner, especially Roz Lippel, Kara Watson, Brianna Yamashita, Brian Belfiglio, Jaya Miceli, Erich Hobbing, Amanda Mulholland, Zoey Cole, Ash Gilliam, and Sabrina Pyun. Thanks to Laura Wise and Stephanie Evans for upgrading my sentences. Thanks to Jon Karp and Chris Lynch for their amazing support.

Thanks to Karen Kenyon, Sam Fox, and Rory Walsh at ICM, and to Karolina Sutton, Charlie Tooke, Daisy Meyrick, and Andrea Joyce at Curtis Brown.

Mega–super thanks to Kate Lloyd, who gets it.

A novel is a human document, made by a single (particularly fallible) human, so despite my efforts and the efforts of the fantastic Meg Storey, I’m sure that errors remain. All inaccuracies, insensitivities, and historical liberties taken-too-far are my fault.

Enduring thanks to Dr. Wendell Mayo, who I like to think would have enjoyed this book, and to Carolyn Reidy, who passed away one day before we were going to send her the manuscript.

To my friends: thank you.

Finally, thanks most of all to you, dear reader. Without you I’d be all alone, adrift atop a dark sea, with no home to return to.

A Scribner Reading Group Guide

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Anthony Doerr

This reading group guide for Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction