It is a joy to continue working with the dream team at HarperCollins Canada: Leo MacDonald, Sandra Leef, Michael Guy-Haddock, Cory Beatty, Alan Jones, Noelle Zitzer, Lisa Bettencourt, Natalie Meditsky, Irina Pintea, Karmen Wells and many others, as well as freelance copyeditor Stacey Cameron. Thank you all for your tremendous work and enthusiasm.

My agent, Ayesha Pande, has been with me from the beginning as a strong champion and trusted adviser, and I am perennially grateful for her wisdom and support. Thanks to the entire Pande Literary team for making everything run smoothly, including Serene Hakim and Theresa Soon-Young Park. I am also indebted to all the foreign agents and publishers who’ve brought my stories to over thirty countries around the world.

Thank you to the many independent booksellers around the country who embraced and shared my first two novels; a special shout-out to the fabulous staff at Warwick’s of La Jolla and Teresa Lee Rushworth of Vero Beach Book Center. Thank you to all those readers who wrote to me with your thoughts and questions, invited me to your book clubs and shared reviews on your blogs. Without your support, this story would have remained in my imagination.

My deepest gratitude to Katherine Kirby Dunleavy, who read an early draft of this story and provided much-needed encouragement when I was about to hang it up. She was a careful and astute reader, and always generous with her time and opinions, not to mention her unyielding friendship.

My writers’ posse—Lori Reisenbichler, Cindy Corpier and Erin Burdette—came out of retirement at exactly the right time to convene for a magical retreat that helped me unlock the ending for which I’d been searching.

To delve into the world of cults, I read and watched everything I could find, and two experts I consulted were of tremendous value. Paul Morantz is an investigator/attorney, whose memoir, Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults, details his harrowing experiences as a cult prosecutor. Rick Ross founded the Cult Education Institute and wrote the book Cults Inside Out. Rick was very generous in speaking with me on several occasions, helping me comprehend the mindset of both nascent cult leaders and those who fall prey to their manipulations.

Dr. Elena Mikalsen, a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma, helped me understand the development of post-traumatic stress disorder in young Karina, and how this would manifest, multiply and ultimately be healed through her life. Genée Glazier graciously shared her expertise about the psychology behind cutting, and how it occupies the minds and bodies of adolescent girls.

Thanks to the many folks who helped me learn about things of which I knew nothing. Tim Fox introduced me to Ernie Hahn and Matt Yamashita of Grizzly Peak Farms, where I observed the detailed process of marijuana cultivation. Sean Prosser advised me on the finer points of insider trading violations and settlements. Anjou Parekh and Pratiksha Lakhani educated me on the practice of Bharatnatyam dance. Charlene Stein showed me how to raise chickens, and Stephanie Walker patiently explained the care and feeding of equines.