At times, the novelist is a scavenger, rooting among the weathered memories and dog-eared details of other people’s lives in search of the piece that will fit his imagined construction, or the bean that will sprout something wholly new. My heartfelt thanks to those friends and acquaintances who, by sharing the stuff of their lives in conversation, seeded important elements of this story long before there was a story.
I’m grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for their crucial support. Thanks also to Tara for her ceramics knowledge, to Miranda and Krista for their reading and insights, to Lara Hinchberger and Ellen Seligman for their encouragement and guidance, and to Bruce Westwood and Carolyn Forde for joining me in the leap of faith.