Chapters (43)
This book was a journey, a quest of its own kind, and I wouldn’t have been able to vault the hurdles and navigate the many thorny paths without my guide and editor, Caitlin McKenna. You were to me what, historically, Saints Catherine and Margaret were to Joan: a source of inspiration and a reserve of wisdom, strength, and calm, especially in uncertain and challenging times. It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that the Joan who appears in these pages is really our Joan. She simply wouldn’t have taken on the spirit and form she does without your brilliant notes, ideas, and encouragement. Thank you for embodying, in your person, a true passion for books and for the written word. This work is dedicated to Joan, but I would like to think of it as an offering to her memory that we have constructed together.
I would like to thank Emma Caruso for her thoughtful, enlightening edits and for providing a fresh pair of eyes at an important juncture of the editorial process. Thank you for always fielding my queries and concerns, whether legitimate or otherwise, with such grace and (saintly) patience.
My thanks goes to Bonnie Thompson for her extraordinarily thorough and perceptive copyediting; Simon Sullivan for his elegant and truly stunning interior design; Lucas Heinrich for creating a powerful and impactful jacket; Cara DuBois and Maggie Hart for the care and diligence they put into this book’s production; David Lindroth for a gorgeous map; Melissa Folds for her deft and savvy handling of all things publicity; Madison Dettlinger for her insightful work in marketing; Noa Shapiro for her helpful and intelligent contributions to a variety of matters; and Denise Cronin, Rachel Kind, Jessica Cashman, Donna Duverglas, and Toby Ernst for their dedicated management of subrights. I am also grateful to Avideh Bashirrad, Robin Desser, and Andy Ward for their kind support of this book, which has enabled it to become a reality.
A big thank-you to Elisabeth Weed for the boundless energy and time she has devoted to this book. Thank you for your ideas, your infectious enthusiasm, and for being wonderful.
And last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my mother, whose daily courage in navigating the manifold perils and pitfalls of life, both large and small, made possible (and feasible) this imagining of Joan’s journey. When my own nerves get the better of me, thank you for being brave, for being a modern-day woman warrior.
By Katherine J. Chen
Mary B
Joan
about the author
Katherine J. Chen is the author of the novels Mary B and Joan. Her work has been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, and the historical fiction anthology Stories from Suffragette City. She received her MFA from Boston University, where she was a senior teaching fellow and was awarded the Florence Engel Randall Fiction Prize.
