I THANK MY FAMILY, FRIENDS and colleagues, especially the following, without whose advice and support I could not have created this work:

My agent Shaun Bradley, my editor Lynn Henry, Anne Dondertman, Pearce Carefoote and staff at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto, Anne Collins, Amanda Lewis, handwriting expert D. Gauthier, Jean Dandenault, Martin Dandenault, Juliette Dandenault, Esther Wade, Daniel MacNee, Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers, Dr. A. Nitpicker, Heather McNabb and staff at the archives of the McCord Museum in Montreal, book designer Jennifer Griffiths, Angelica Glover, Michael Winter, Barbara Wight, Nancy Hall, Janet Blachford, Shelagh Plunkett, Alice Zorn, Susan Gillis, Elise Moser, and Ross Rogers.

And I thank you, dear reader.

About the Author

KATHLEEN WINTER’S NOVEL Annabel (2010) was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the Orange Prize, Canada Reads, and numerous other awards. It was also a Globe and Mail “Best Book,” a New York Times “Notable” book, a Quill & Quire “Book of the Year” and a #1 bestseller in Canada. It has been published and translated worldwide. In 2014, Winter published an Arctic memoir, Boundless, which was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize and the Taylor Prize for non-fiction; and The Freedom in American Songs, an acclaimed collection of stories. Kathleen Winter was born in the UK, spent many years in Newfoundland, and now lives in Montreal, Quebec.