A BIG, HEARTFELT THANK-YOU TO THE FOLLOWING: my agent, Dorian Karchmar, for believing in me, for pushing me, for astounding me with her extraordinary combination of editorial and business smarts; my U.S. publisher, Ellen Archer, and acquiring editor, Pamela Dorman, for saying yes; my editors, Kate Elton, Sarah Landis, Vanessa Neuling, and Iris Tupholme, for wielding hatchets or microscopes as necessary, always with generosity; my copyeditor, Susan M. S. Brown, for reading with diligence and skill; my first reader, Ania Szado (whose tears thrilled me), and early readers Brian Francis, Lesley Krueger, and my writers’ group, for encouragement and helpful suggestions; my boys, Jack, Charlie, and William Cobb, for their unflagging curiosity, particularly when it comes to cork suits, lifeline guns, and severed, tattooed limbs; my husband, Larry Cobb, for food, water, shelter, and love, and for telling me all those years ago it was all right to depart the workforce to write fiction and then never once suggesting my “two-year” leave was long ago used up; my parents, Ruth and Al Buchanan, for everything that brought me to this, including their choice of Niagara Falls as a hometown; and the rest of the Buchanans and Cobbs, my big, boisterous, loving family.
I would like to express my gratitude for the generous assistance provided by Dr. Norman R. Ball, author of The Canadian Niagara Power Company Story; Sister Caroline Dawson, Loretto Niagara, IBVM; Sister Juliana Dusel, archivist, Loretto Archives, IBVM; Cathy Simpson, local history librarian, Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library; and Scott Tuf-ford, author of numerous Niagara histories including one on Glenview.
Many books were helpful in researching this novel, particularly, on the topic of faith, Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness, Vintage Canada, 2005; C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, Fount, 1998; and Armand M. Nicholi, The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, The Free Press, 2002; on the topic of grief, Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006; and C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, HarperCollins, 2000; on the topic of cooking, Isabella Beeton, Mrs. Beeton’s All-About Cookery, Ward, Lock & Co., 1915; and on the topic of Niagara Falls, Pierre Berton, Niagara: A History of the Falls, McClelland & Stewart, 1992; Andy O’Brien, Daredevils of Niagara, The Ryerson Press, 1964; Patrick McGreevy, Imagining Niagara: The Meaning and Making of Niagara Falls, University of Massachusetts Press, 1994; George A. Seibel, Ontario’s Niagara Parks: 100 Years, The Niagara Parks Commission, 1985; Sherman Zavitz, It Happened at Niagara: First Series, The Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 1996; Sherman Zavitz, It Happened at Niagara: Second Series, The Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 1999; Sherman Zavitz, It Happened at Niagara: Third Series, The Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 2003; City of Niagara Falls Centennial Book Committee, Images of a Century: The City of Niagara Falls, Canada, 1904–2004, The City of Niagara Falls, Canada, 2005; and Niagara Falls, Canada: A History of the City and the World Famous Beauty Spot, edited by William J. Holt, The Kiwanis Club of Stamford, Ontario, Inc., 1967.
The newspaper account of Fergus’s rescue of the workmen stranded on Ellet’s bridge is taken nearly verbatim from a news report recounted in Niagara Falls, Canada, edited by William J. Holt. Grateful acknowledgment is made to The Kiwanis Club of Stamford, Ontario, Inc. for permission to reprint the account.
The description of the brink of the falls as “that thin line that separates eternity from time” comes from James K. Liston, Niagara Falls: A Poem in Three Cantos, printed and published for the author, 1843. Exact ownership of copyright is unknown.
An earlier version of chapter 5 appeared in Descant 138 (Fall 2007).
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Toronto Arts Council for their award of a writers’ grant.