Children of War (39 page)

The Toulouse mosque, its Imams and its security services are pure inventions for literary purposes, and so is the report on Islam and jihadist recruitment in French prisons. But, having visited mosques in Paris, Toulouse and elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East, and having published several articles on Islam in Europe (see, for example, ‘Europe’s Mosque Hysteria’,
Wilson Quarterly
, Washington DC, Spring 2006), I know something of the terrain. I am grateful to Professor Tariq Ramadan of St Antony’s College, Oxford, and to the French scholar of Islam Professor Olivier Roy, for sharing with me their insights into the challenges and prospects of Islam in Europe.

My friend Linda Stern, a truly gifted psychologist in Washington DC, helped me to understand something of the challenges and features of the range of difficulties we call autism. I am most grateful for her help, but any errors in the description of Sami and his behaviour are entirely my own.

The château to which Sami is taken is an invention, drawn in part from the château de Campagne, now splendidly restored as an archaeological research centre, and partly from the château de la Roque des Péagers near Meyrals. There are more than a thousand châteaux and historic manor houses in the Dordogne and Vézère valleys, so we fortunate local novelists have a wondrous range of locations from which to choose.

As always, I am most grateful to Jane and Caroline Wood in Britain, to Jonathan Segal in New York and to Anna von Planta in Zurich for their irreplaceable editing skills. My family has been part of the Bruno project from the beginning and are always the first to read and comment on my drafts. My wife
Julia, who is co-author of the Bruno cookbook, also checks the recipes; our elder daughter Kate runs the brunochiefofpolice. com website; and our younger daughter Fanny is the continuity expert, keeping track of meals, characters, events and places as Bruno’s life and biography grow ever more complex with each new book. And Benson, our basset hound, thoughtfully ensures that I never spend too long at the writing desk, but get out often to enjoy the magical Périgord landscape that continues to inspire me to spin the tales of Bruno and the fictional town of St Denis.