I also wish to thank Lord Barnard of Raby Castle in County Durham for his interest in my novel, and for allowing Clifton Sutcliffe, the docent, to take me on a personal tour of Cecily’s childhood home in July 2007. Mr. Sutcliffe showed me the Keep where Cecylee was locked up by her father, and explained to me about the wooden walkways that criss-crossed Castle Raby to make passage from one tower to another easy in the event of a raid. I am also indebted to him for bringing to my attention John Wolstenholme Cobb’s History and Antiquities of Berkhamsted, in which he quotes The Orders and Rules of the Princess Cecill.
I wish to thank the United States Military Academy Department of History for allowing me to use the map of England and France circa 1422, and for Emerson Kent in helping me to find it.
I wish to thank the United States Military Academy Department of History for allowing me to use the map of England and France circa 1422, and for Emerson Kent in helping me to find it.
I was privileged to take classes with many wonderful teachers during my long journey with TQ. I wish to thank Mark Spencer, professor of English and Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Arkansas at Monticello for his class Successful Self-Publishing, given during the spring of 2011; Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife, for her sensitive reading of the novel during the 2010 Napa Valley Writer’s Workshop; Amy Rennert of the Amy Rennert Agency for her class Secrets of Publishing Success given at Book Passage in Corte Madera CA, during the fall of 2006; Janis Cooke-Newman, author of Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln, for her invaluable help on the end of the novel; Michael Neff, creator of Web del Sol, for his wonderful classes on craft at the 2005 Harper’s Ferry Workshop; Junse Kim, who taught Introduction to Fiction: You Can’t Build a House without Foundations and Otis Haschemeyer, who taught Introduction to the Novel at the Writing Salon in Bernal Heights San Francisco during the fall of 2004. I could not have written and published my novel without the help of these professionals.
My friend Beth Robertson deserves thanks for sharing her expertise on Chaucer, and her knowledge of subversive activity amongst medieval ladies, who would often read material that would not have pleased their husbands. Such inflammatory scrolls were secreted in the saddle bags of Abbesses and other ladies, who were ostensibly just making a social call.
I wish to thank the following writers for reading the manuscript and making useful suggestions: Kristin Abkemeyer, Myrna Loy Ashby, Sharyn Bowman, Peter Brown, Julie Corwin, Eric Goldman, Joy Jones, Phil Kurata, Nadine Leavitt-Siak, Michelle McGurk, Amanda Miller, Rose Murphy, Nicole Nelson, Dan Newman, Desirée Parker, Walter Simson, Kevin Singer, Judy Wertheimer, Jun Yan.
Last but not least, I wish to thank my husband Georges Rey for prodding me to continue with Cecylee, and my sister Melanie, for giving me the idea in the first place.