I am indebted to archival reports from the Boston Globe, the Fayetteville Observer, and the Robesonian for facts pertaining to the Cocoanut Grove Fire in 1942 and the train wreck in Rennert, North Carolina, in 1943, as well as the 1959 publication Fire in Boston’s Cocoanut Grove by Paul Benzaquin. Thanks to Chick Jacobs for directions to the train site, and immense gratitude to Bob Fisher, the former director of the Robeson County Library, who immediately searched the archives when he learned what I was working on. Thanks to the regulars in the Wesley Pines writing group for your shared stories and the inspiration you bring. For hometown memories, I want to thank Bill McLean, as well as the late Ann Culbreth, and the late Horace Stacey, who as a teenager ran telegrams in the aftermath of the crash. Invaluable thanks for feedback and conversation along the way to Wilton Barnhardt, Emma Beckham, Barb Bennett, Matraca Berg, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Belle Boggs, Marshall Chapman, Charlie Cuneo, Lisa Cupolo, Stephanie Donahue, Linda Dunn, Betsy Giduz, Marianne Gingher, Amy Hempel, Susan Irons, Elinor Lipman, Maureen Macneil, Louise Marburg, Allyssa McCabe, Jayne Anne Phillips, Steve Yarbrough, and Lee-Ann Yolin.

Thanks to my dear friend, Cathy Stanley, who has read my work in its roughest versions since we were fifteen. (Not enough thank-yous for that!) And to Lee Smith and Betsy Cox, who have generously given me their wise insights since 1977 and 1984, respectively.

Thanks to my sister, Jan Gane, for her continued love and support, and to our mom, who is an inspiration. The train wreck was a vivid memory from my dad’s boyhood, and I have wished thousands of times that I could hear him talk about it—talk about anything—just one more time.

Thanks to Claudia and Rob—always—and to Alexander and Julian, Caroline and Julian, for the joys of family.

Great appreciation to my agent, Henry Dunow, and eternal thanks to my editor, Kathy Pories. What a pleasure and honor to get to work with you. Thanks to Elizabeth Johnson for her amazing copy editing and to Brunson Hoole and the entire Algonquin Staff.

And finally (but never least) thanks to my husband, Tom Rankin, whose love and support on our shared journey bring more joy and thanksgiving and adventure than I ever would have allowed myself to imagine. I am grateful.

Readers Guide

Hieroglyphics

Writing Hieroglyphics: An Essay by Jill McCorkle

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Questions for Discussion

Writing Hieroglyphics
An Essay by Jill McCorkle