The Schoolmaster's Daughter (48 page)

On the shore, Benjamin and Mariah were clapping their hands.

Ezra didn't hear them—or the caw of the seagulls high overhead—but his mouth remained open with mute fascination as he extended his arm. He pointed, across the harbor, toward the islands, out to sea, and to the high clouds piled upon the horizon. It didn't matter where or in what direction. He was seeing it all for the first time.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank Northern Michigan University for the Peter White Scholar Award, which provided me with course release time and funds that helped me to complete this book. For their abiding commitment and enthusiasm, I am indebted to Claiborne Hancock and Jessica Case at Pegasus Books. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my literary agent Noah Lukeman, for his pugilist's tenacity and crystalline foresight.

The Schoolmaster's Daughter

Pegasus Books LLC

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Copyright © 2011 by John Smolens

Interior Design by Maria Fernandez

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 978-1-6059-8373-8

ISBN 978-1-6059-8849-8 (e-book)

Printed in the United States of America

Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company