Serafina and the Twisted Staff (The Serafina Series) (39 page)

Here and there in the story, I have used artistic licence for reasons of pacing (I figured you didn’t want to read an encyclopedia), but in general I’ve tried to stay true to the
spirit and detail of the house.

If you enjoy the outdoors, you should explore the forests and mountains that surround Asheville. You can venture up past the Craggy Gardens to the tallest mountain in the Eastern U.S. just as
Serafina did during her journey. You can see the same waterfalls and swim in the same rivers.

Many of the characters depicted in the story were real-life people, including George and Edith Vanderbilt, the housekeeper Emily Rand King and Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape
architecture in America. Even Cedric the St Bernard was real.

My goal in depicting Mr Olmsted the way I did, including showing him planting trees, was to capture the spirit of his and George Vanderbilt’s original vision for rebuilding and protecting
the forest surrounding Biltmore, which would go on to become the birthplace of forest conservation in America. The conversation I depicted between the two men was inspired by Olmsted’s
personal letters. But I did use artistic licence to bring him back to Biltmore for a visit in 1899, a few years after he retired. Given more room, I would have also liked to have described the
roles of Gifford Pinchot, Carl Schenck and others. Years later, after George Vanderbilt passed away unexpectedly, his wife Edith fulfilled his vision for the forest by selling the vast majority of
their forested land to the government so that it would be protected by the public trust. It became what is today the Pisgah National Forest, one of America’s first and finest national
forests.

Whenever I see the unique beauty of Biltmore House and its surrounding gardens and trees, I can’t help but marvel at the vision and power of the human spirit when it aspires to good
purpose.

F
irst, I would like to thank you, the readers, for helping to spread the word about
Serafina and the Black Cloak
. It is because of your
support on Book 1 that I was provided the opportunity to continue with Serafina’s story.

My deep thanks go to Laura Schreiber and Emily Meehan, my editors at Disney-Hyperion, for their insight into storytelling and their commitment to the Serafina series. And thank you to the rest
of the wonderful team at Disney Hyperion in New York and LA.

Thank you to my beta readers, including the middle grade students and teachers of Carolina Day School, the ladies of the LLL Book Club and all my other beta readers.

I would also like to thank the freelance editors who provided invaluable feedback on the manuscript, including Jodie Renner, Sam Severn, Jenny Bowman, Kira Freed, Sheila Trask, Dianne Purdie,
John Harten, Misty Stiles and others.

Thank you to Dr Bridget Anderson, an expert in turn-of-the-century Southern mountain dialect. Having always enjoyed the different way people speak in our diverse country, I appreciate her
assistance, helping me to honour the traditions of Southern mountain talk.

Thank you to my Serafina home team in Asheville, including Scott Fowler and Lydia Carrington at Brucemont Communications, Robin McCollough for helping to spread the word, Paul Bonesteel and the
talented team at Bonesteel Films, and everyone else in Asheville who helped make the book a success.

Thank you to Deborah Sloan and M. J. Rose for helping me to get the word out. And thank you to my agent Bill Contardi and my foreign-rights agent Marianne Merola at Brandt & Hochman in New
York. And thank you to Egmont UK and my other foreign publishers.

I would also like to thank all the kind and supportive folks at Barnes & Noble in Asheville and throughout the southeastern region, and Malaprop’s Bookstore, and all the other
bookstores throughout the country who have believed in me, supported me, and been such gracious hosts. And thank you to all the teachers and librarians throughout the country who have used
Serafina and the Black Cloak
in their classrooms, who work tirelessly every day to inspire reading in young people.

Thank you to my friends Dini Pickering, Chase Pickering and Ryan Cecil, fourth and fifth generation family members of George Vanderbilt. I am honoured by your support and encouragement. And
thank you to all the staff members and management at Biltmore Company, especially Ellen Rickman, Tim Rosebrock and Kathleen Mosher.

Finally, I would like to thank my family, including my two brothers and my Jankowski in-laws, but most especially my wife and three daughters, who not only inspired this story, but helped create
it, develop it and bring it to the world. In the words of W. H. Auden, you are my working week and my Sunday rest, my noon, my midnight, my talk, my song.