A Death-Struck Year (25 page)

During the Spanish influenza outbreak, there were tales of people who were too scared to care for neighbors, and of men and women who abandoned their homes and families out of fear. But there were many other stories as well—of ordinary people who traveled door-to-door in search of strangers who might be ill, who helped in hospitals, who delivered food, who cared for orphans. Many worked tirelessly until the moment they were stricken with influenza themselves. Their quiet acts of heroism served as inspiration for Cleo’s story.

Barry, John.
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History.
New York: Viking, 2004.

Blanke, David.
The 1910s.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2002.

Crosby, Alfred W.
America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Maxwell, William.
They Came Like Swallows.
New York: Modern Library, 1997.

Nelson, Donald R.
Historic Photos of Portland.
Nashville, Tenn.: Turner Publishing, 2006.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Suzie Townsend. She is part agent, part fairy godmother, and I am lucky to have her in my corner. My editor, Adah Nuchi, is wise and kind, a pleasure to work with. I am indebted to her and to the entire team at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

A special thanks to Jennifer Soulagnet for bravely reading the original draft. The talented Jenny Bowles not only took my author photos, but treated me to one adventure-filled morning in Potlatch, Idaho. Kathryn Santos, archivist for the California State Railroad Museum Library, discovered an old Southern Pacific timetable and sent it my way. Maija Anderson, head of Historical Collections and Archives for Oregon Health and Science University, graciously answered a stranger’s query regarding early-twentieth-century medical school requirements. I am also obliged to the staff of the Oregon Historical Society, who helped me locate one document key to Cleo’s story—an old diagram of the Public Auditorium.

And, lastly, I would like to say thank you to my family, for everything. Thank you to Melissa Preciado; to my husband, Chris; and to Mia Evangeline, my sweet girl, for keeping those pencils nice and sharp.

M
AKIIA
L
UCIER
gew up on the Pacific island of Guam. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and a master’s in library studies from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she studied literature for children. She’s had plenty of jobs, mostly in libraries, and currently lives in the small college town of Moscow, Idaho.
A Death-Struck Year
is her debut novel.

www.makiialucier.com