Authors: Heidi Heilig

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The Girl from Everywhere (38 page)

BOOK: The Girl from Everywhere

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The Hawaiian League (also known as the Committee of Safety or, in quieter tones, the Annexation Club) was a secret society, so official records were not kept, but the group’s constitution was drafted by the prudish Mr. Lorrin Thurston. Mr. Sanford Dole, businessman and lawyer, was also a member of the group, and later he became the president of the Republic of Hawaii. Mr. Samuel Mills Damon, who had ingratiated himself to parties on both sides, helped to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the overthrow, whereby Queen Liliuokalani surrendered under protest.

From first contact between Europeans and Hawaiians—in 1778, during Captain James Cook’s third voyage—to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy 115 years later, foreigners coveted Hawaii’s paradisiacal bounty, first in the form of victuals, later in sugar and pineapples. Of course, Cook’s attempt to capture a Hawaiian monarch ended in Cook’s death, while the Hawaiian League’s final attempt was clearly much more successful.

THE FAIRY TALES

Healing Springs and Hu’akai Po

Almost any hike in Nu’uanu Valley will lead to a beautiful waterfall, and there are several legends concerning healing springs in Hawaii, including Kunawai, at the base of the valley, and many springs throughout the island that were
kapu
, or forbidden to commoners. If you go in search of Blake’s sacred spot, watch out for the Hu’akai Po; the legend of the Night Marchers was a tale I was often told growing up. Only the young and the foolish seek out the warriors, and I have been both. Several nights, while visiting a boy who lived in Manoa Valley, we saw torchlight wavering on a mountainside too steep to climb. We spent many days hiking together but never found the source.

MYTHS AND MAGIC

The mythological items mentioned in the book are all inspired by real legends. The sky herring that light the lamps are a reference to the ancient Swedish name for the aurora:
sillblixt
, meaning “herring flash.” Fishermen thought the lights were the reflections of huge shoals of fish.

The bottomless bag is from the Welsh epic
Y Mabinogi
, and can never be filled unless a person steps inside. The golem is a Jewish myth wherein a figure of clay can be brought to life and made to toil, although their great tragedy is that they cannot speak.

There is a lovely illustration of the caladrius curing a king in the Aberdeen Bestiary. And of course, Katz’s pastrami and Di Fara’s pizza have attained mythological status but are decidedly, deliciously real.

THE EMPEROR’S TOMB

As yet largely unexcavated, the description of Qin’s tomb is based on the
Shiji
, as mentioned in the book, as well as on speculations by archaeologists who have used ground imaging technology—sonar and the like—to map out the sprawling necropolis. Unusually high amounts of mercury in the
surrounding soil give credence to Sima Qian’s account of underground rivers and seas; perhaps one day, if exploration continues, we’ll learn just how accurate he was.

Any imperial dragon depicted in the tomb would likely have five claws; the more proletarian dragons make do with three.

THE BLACK SHIP

The
Temptation
is based on a ship called the
Notorious
, a replica caravel built by Graeme and Felicity Wylie after the legend of the Mahogany Ship, an Australian shipwreck. The
Temptation
’s keel, a huge bone carved in runes, is a reference to the myth of Ullr’s bone; apparently, the Norse wizard Ullr used “a certain bone, which he had marked with awful spells, wherewith to cross the seas, instead of a vessel; and that by this bone he passed over the waters that barred his way as quickly as by rowing.” That quote is from Saxo Grammaticus’s twelfth- century work
Gesta Danorum
.

The
Temptation
’s figurehead is fashioned after the first girl Slate ever kissed. Slate is a terrible romantic.

SAILOR’S SUPERSTITIONS

Sailors have a great many omens and superstitions about being at sea, some of them contradictory. Women aboard
were usually considered bad luck, although they were thought of as the very best navigators. In addition, the sight of a woman’s breasts was thought to shame the storm right out of a rough sea; to this end, most figureheads are bare-breasted women.

Sailors also considered the sight of an albatross to be a good omen, although in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” a sailor who kills an albatross brings hardship and misfortune to his ship. Albatross are very long lived, and typically mate for life, spending months—sometimes years—apart but always reuniting, parting only in death.

 KASHMIR’S BACKGROUND

In 1704 or thereabouts, Antoine Galland translated
One Thousand and One Nights
into French, adding some stories that were not in the original Syrian text. The work became very popular in Europe over the next century, with people publishing their own versions and translations, some more fanciful than others. Thus, Kashmir hails from the Vaadi Al-Maas, or Diamond Valley, which is a reference to the story of Sinbad and the Rocs. He shares other characteristics with some characters in the stories attributed to Scheherazade, which of course Nix had read. He speaks Farsi, Arabic, English, and French,
befitting a man from a fairy-tale version of “Arabia” as seen through the eyes of an eighteenth-century French cartographer.

Yalla (Arabic):
Let’s go!

Vite (French):
Quickly!

Ya sidi (Arabic):
Sir.

Khahesh mikonam (Farsi): You’re welcome.

Khodaye man (Farsi):
My God!

Negaran nabash (Farsi):
Don’t worry.

Cher (French):
Dear.

Baleh (Farsi):
Yes.

Pourquois non (French):
Why not?

Viens (French):
Come.

In shaa’ Allah (Arabic):
God willing.

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M
any myths include quests, and many quests include helpers without whom the hero would fail. Writing a book is not heroic, but those who have helped me along the way have been.

My keepers of knowledge, Rebecca C. Brown on maps, Duncan Stephenson and Gordon Young on ships and sailing, Matteen Mokalla for Farsi, and Haatem Reda for Arabic, who gave me as much information as any good god of wisdom, without too many of the demands for worship, thank you.

Those who encouraged me when I first needed it—Diane Drotleff, Michelle Elliot, Rob Hartman, Karen Henderson, Lisa Sindorf, Lori Steinberg, Sana Qu, and particularly Robert St. John—I owe you all drinks. Where did I put that bottomless pitcher of wine? I am also
grateful to Zach Fornaca, for his willing sacrifice, and to my shaman, Curtis Zimmerman. And to the philosophers, Anthony Gregory and Tommaso Sciortino, thank you for holding up your lamps.

I am so lucky for my first readers, Sharon Rader, Bruce Lamon, Thekla Hansen-Young—I put my heart in your hands and you didn’t feed it to Amut. To my first fan—ever, not just of this book—Diana Hansen-Young, thank you. I love your work.

My incredible agent, Molly Ker Hawn—like Hermes, intercessor between me and the gods—you are definitely the answer to a prayer. My amazing editor, Martha Mihalick, all-seeing, all-knowing goddess of Greenwillow: I worship you just a little bit. And to the team at Hotkey, Sara O’Connor and Naomi Colthurst—thank you for smiling on this author.

And finally, to Felix, little egg that hatched a dragon, and to Bret, like Hephaestus, hammering out the plot on your forge, it’s always been true: I need you.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

HEIDI HEILIG
grew up in Hawaii, where she rode horses and raised peacocks. She has haggled for rugs in Morocco, hiked the trails of the Ko’olau Valley, and huddled in a tent in Africa. She holds an MFA from New York University in musical theatre writing, and she’s written book and lyrics for several shows. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son, and pet snake.

www.heidiheilig.com

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CREDITS

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This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE. Copyright © 2016 by Heidi Heilig. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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The text of this book is set in TK.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data TK

EPub Edition © August 2015 ISBN 9780062426178

ISBN 978-0-06-238075-3 (hardback)

16 17 18 19 20 TK 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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