Owen's Daughter (40 page)

Authors: Jo-Ann Mapson

BOOK: Owen's Daughter

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I couldn’t tell you how I know this, but suddenly I know it’s time. For so long I have heard the instructions. But it didn’t seem possible until tonight. I do what I have waited so long to do.

I go to the light.

Acknowledgments

I’m deeply grateful to so many people for their help and expertise in shaping this book. To my dearest friend and agent, Deborah Schneider, for her terrific feedback and support for so many years. To my wonderful, brilliant, enthusiastic editor, Nancy Miller, and to her equally wonderful, insightful colleague, Lea Beresford, just, wow. Every writer should be so lucky. Not only did they give me great advice, and help to shape what needed to change, they also talked me down from the ledge a couple of times. Lea, you changed the entire course of the book for the best with one small suggestion. Nikki Baldauf, my production editor, certainly earned her wages helping me fix my errors. Thank you. To my publicist, Carrie Majer, who works late and always has time to talk, and everyone else at Bloomsbury Publishing for their support for my books.

For advice in writing about MS, I thank Laurie Lehman, who took pains to educate me on this complex illness and portray the symptoms realistically. Any errors that remain are my fault, entirely.

The poet Alice Anderson generously explained traumatic brain injury, and I have the utmost reverence for the stories she shared. Thank you, Alice, for your friendship and bravery, and for the line from your poem, “The Birds.”

My husband, Stewart Allison—who reminds me every time I complain that it’s impossible to finish a book, “You said this about the last book and it turned out just fine”—is my rock, my sunlight, and truly my better half. Forty years of marriage next month, and I’m still in love with him. To our son, Jack, who had an especially difficult year, things will get better, I promise. Just take a walk on the beach and think about whales. You can call me anytime.

To my niece Diana, I hope this book brings you peace and happiness. You are so loved.

How my mother, Mary, put up with me remains a great mystery I continually ponder. My siblings, whether they were telling me to lick a frozen pipe (that they promised tasted like cherry), hanging my dolls, or convincing me that tigers resided under my bed, have also been great supporters of my work.

I also send this story into the great beyond, to my mom’s best friend, Opal Burgraft, who passed away before I could give her the finished book. Bless your heart, Opal. I’ll cherish our chats. Please say hello to my dad for me. Rest in peace.

Without my writer friends, it would take me hundreds of boxes of Kleenex to finish a book. Caroline Leavitt, above all, just knowing you’re there on the East Coast is such a comfort. Everything you do for writers I find beyond generous. You’re absolutely the hardest-working writer I know. I treasure our discussions and our mutual addiction to Old Gringo cowboy boots, and I consider our friendship a great blessing in my life. Jodi Picoult, ditto the above. Other writers just as important to me include Anne Caston, Rich Chiappone, Nicky Leach, Wolf Schneider, Sherry Simpson, David Stevenson, Carolyn Turgeon, and Candelora Versace.

To Mary Wolf and Dorothy Massey, owners of Collected Works Bookstore, thank you for recommending my work to customers, for your lovely, kind hearts of steel, and for your perfect bookstore, with its fireplace, comfy couches, and wonderful books.

Finally, to all the readers of
Blue Rodeo
, I hope this story was worth the twenty-year wait. You haven’t seen the last of these characters, or of Glory, Joe, and their increasing tribe. They are as dear to me as all of you. And I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Thanks to everyone.

A Note on the Author

Jo-Ann Mapson is the author of eleven previous novels, including the beloved
Finding Casey
,
Solomon’s Oak
,
Hank & Chloe
,
Blue Rodeo
(also a CBS TV movie), and the
Los Angeles Times
bestsellers
The Wilder Sisters
and
Bad Girl Creek
. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and their four dogs. Visit her website at
www.joannmapson.com
.

By the Same Author

Finding Casey

Solomon’s Oak

The Owl & Moon Café

The Wilder Sisters

Loving Chloe

Shadow Ranch

Blue Rodeo

Hank & Chloe

Fault Line
(stories)

The Bad Girl Creek trilogy:

Bad Girl Creek

Along Came Mary

Goodbye, Earl

Loved
Owen's Daughter
? Check out
Solomon's Oak
and
Finding Casey
, prequels that tell the story of how Glory, Joseph, and Juniper met and came to be a family, and of Juniper's reunion with her sister Casey.

In
Solomon's Oak
, Glory Solomon is struggling to come to terms with life on her farm after the sudden death of her husband. When two lost souls walk into her lifeâJuniper McGuire, a troubled, angry teenager from a broken family, and Joseph Vigil, a wounded ex-police officerâGlory is completely unprepared for the changes they will bring. Together, these three survivors find in each other an unexpected solace, the bond of friendship, and a second chance to see the miracles of everyday life.

“Dazzlingly written, indelibly moving, and deeply profound,
Solomon's Oak
is filled with grace, heart, and wisdom, and a rich cast of real characters . . . Truly a gem.” âCaroline Leavitt

“Mapson [shows us] the world as we hope it isâa world in which flawed people can be basically healthy, and even pain has a richness to it . . . One of the most gifted writers of the contemporary [American] West.” â
Los Angeles Times

“Mapson creates characters so real you could recognize them coming down the road.” â
Chicago Tribune

In
Finding Casey
, Glory Vigil, newly married and unexpectedly pregnant at forty-one, and her husband Joseph have just moved to a new home in Santa Fe. Their adopted daughter, Juniper, takes a fieldwork course in a pueblo only a few hours away and finds herself right back in the past she thought she'd buried.

“Jo-Ann Mapson is one of my favorite authorsâquite simply, she's an archivist of the human heart.” âJodi Picoult

“The opening pages drew me in and never let me go . . . Delicious.” âAlan Cheuse, NPR's
All Things Considered

“
Finding Casey
is a beautiful, rugged journey into the depths of the heart.” âRobyn Carr, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of the Virgin River novels

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Mapson, Jo-Ann.

Owen’s daughter : a novel / Jo-Ann Mapson. — First U.S. edition.

pages cm