Tess reached her hand into her pocket. She wrapped her hand tightly on the cat’s eye marble. The marble was warm to her touch and then warmer still. And suddenly a faint orange glow seemed to encircle all of them, as if there was a spotlight from the sky onto the sidewalk. And the five of them hugged, as the snow fell softly, like light petals all around them.

thank you

Tess and Max would like to thank the amazing Jill Santopolo for presenting our continuing real and imagined adventures, and Jennifer Chung, Jennifer Bricking, and Vartan Ter-Avanesyan for picturing us and our travels in England; the many magical voices of our friend Laraine Newman; and all the kind people behind the curtain at Philomel Books and Penguin Random House: Ken Wright, the patient and attentive Talia Benamy, Lindsay Boggs, Diane McKiernan, Katherine Punia, and Felicia Frazier!

And all the people who supported Amy: friends and family, Alan Rader, John Byers, Judianna Makovsky, Holly Palance, Sally Singer, Allison Thomas, Wendy Goldberg, Cathryn Michon & Bruce Cameron, Alexandria Jackson, Maia, Matt, Anna, Kevin, and Ethan, Delia, Nick, the inspirational Sonneborn family, Alison Petrocelli, ditto the Morgan family, Nancy Ellison & William Rollnick, the stellar Bob Myman and Jennifer Grega, Scott Miller and Alex Slater, Jon Huddle and Kara Corwin (who know a bit about the strangeness of elevators, too), resident psychic Lila, and a special thanks to Richard Symons, imbedded researcher on Ms. Ephron’s ghost travels years ago to England, and his generous participation in, as he states, that “off-road trek across mud-filled fields and into ancient burial sites” in his Aston Martin DB6 which was probably not meant for off-roading in the remote and mystical English countrysides but which is probably where Amy found us!

about the author

Amy Ephron (www.amyephron.com) is the author of The Castle in the Mist, her first book for young readers, which was nominated for a SCIBA Award, and of Carnival Magic, a companion book. Amy has also written several adult books, including A Cup of Tea, which was an international bestseller. Her novel One Sunday Morning received the Booklist Best Fiction of the Year and Best Historical Fiction of the Year awards and was a Barnes and Noble Book Club selection. She is a contributor and contributing editor at Vogue and Vogue.com, and her work has appeared in numerous other publications. She was also the executive producer of Warner Brothers' A Little Princess. Amy lives in Los Angeles with her husband; between them they have five children. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @amyephron.

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