Sally and Jo have the house’s greeting well in hand, so I take the long road back, through the village with its cottages standing sentinel in a jagged row, past the fence where Mrs. Murrow’s cats still bask, past the tall church, its bell tower silenced for today, the graveyard, where Hugh lies next to his parents and the brother he never knew and the friend he never recovered from losing, through the waving heath, past grazing goats and other daily wonders, until the cluster of oaks is in sight.

I still dream of those figures, bleeding light.

I wonder if we’ll see them at the end.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to first express my endless gratitude to my agent, Katelyn Detweiler, and the rest of the gang at Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Thank you for your unwavering encouragement, insights, and indefatigable efforts on behalf of these stories that pop into my head from time to time.

I couldn’t have sharpened Lute into what it was meant to be without the brilliance of my editor, Daphne Durham, and the crucial help of Lydia Zoells, who has kept this train moving with astonishing precision. Thank you as well to the rest of the bookmaking team, including Esther Kim for her elegant design, Jessica Katz and Sara Ensey for their keen eyes for detail, and the astonishing Xiao Hua Yang for his striking cover art.

I owe a great debt to my early reader friends Joanna Brett and Nicci Earley, as well as to my writer community, Lee Kelly, Chandler Baker, Kim Liggett, Mackenzi Lee, Lori Goldstein, Lauren Gibaldi, Elle Cosimano, and others, wonderful sounding boards and all-around great human beings.

Thank you to my ever-supportive parents for their continual cheerleading and occasional “I told you so”s. Sorry about the cursing in this one.

To my husband, Rob, the one who makes my life both functional and delightful, who keeps the family’s reality swimming along while I’m sunk deep in fiction, I love you dearly and I’m grateful to you every day.

Oliver and Henry, my wild boys, being your mother is the most wonderful and terrifying thing I’ve ever done. Thank you for keeping me on my toes. You are everything that matters.

And one more note to my stepfather George, who may have left us by the time these words are printed. I’ll love you always. I’ll see you at the end.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JENNIFER THORNE lives in a cottage in Gloucestershire, England, with her husband and two sons. As Jenn Marie Thorne, she is the author of the young-adult novels The Wrong Side of Right, The Inside of Out, and Night Music, as well as a picture book, Construction Zoo. Lute is her adult debut. You can sign up for email updates here.

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