The Mapmaker's Children (34 page)

As a writer and a reader, the most satisfying part of mapping any characters (historical, contemporary, real, and fictional) is the emotional journey taken beside them as they discover their independence and develop into stronger people. I believe we become stronger from these characters' pasts, presents, and futures. We learn to view the world and all of our lives, here and gone, as one giant map. Paths, decisions, history, and destiny interconnect even if we can't blatantly see the linking tracks. But, given distance and a stilled perspective, they are unmistakable and ultimately divine. This is what Sarah and Eden demonstrated to me. I hope their stories, two in one, proved the same to you, my esteemed community of readers—present, future, and perhaps even one never-to-be-forgotten woman from the past.

My eternal thanks to…

The courageous women (family, friends, neighbors, strangers, those here and gone) who openly shared their intimate struggles, fears, physical pains, and emotional battles in defining and creating a “family.” Equal thanks to the men who supported and loved these women through every hour. This novel is in honor of all of you.

Mollie Glick, my super agent (it's official, you have the keychain), literary match, and dear friend. Emily Brown, a wicked smart addition. Kristin Neuhaus for trumpeting this book across the globe before I'd even finished the last word. And everyone at Foundry for being nothing short of phenomenal.

My Wonder Woman of an editor, Christine Kopprasch (certified by scandalous apron), Maya Mavjee, and Molly Stern for being lionhearted champions. To my Charlie's Angels fierce team at Crown: Jay Sones (a.k.a. Charlie), Annsley Rosner, Sarah Breivogel, Rachel Meier; and perpetual Angels: Meagan Stacey, Emily Davis, and Kira Walton. To Bonnie Thompson for having the eaglest of eagle eyes (yes, I verbed a noun in not-quite homophonic alliteration) and Mary Doria Russell for the brilliant introduction.

Katie Alexander, the Saratoga Historical Foundation's Archives and Collections director, who was wonderfully kind to open the museum off hours so I might stand before Sarah's paintings, stare, dream, take notes and photographs, ask a thousand questions about the Brown family, and generally consume her entire afternoon. My visit to the Saratoga Historical Museum was instrumental in knowing Sarah's life in California.

The Madronia Cemetery staff for allowing a Virginia lady in Texas
boots to sit beside Sarah Brown's grave, collecting leaves and pinecones, running my fingers over her etched headstone, and mumbling awed hellos without shooing me off as a lunatic vagabond.

The following institutions and collections that served as tremendous resources: the University of Virginia's John Brown Archive and newspaper scans from the
Staunton Spectator
; the University of Missouri–Kansas City's compilation of John Brown's transcribed letters; the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, the Virginia Military Institute Archives, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities,
Harper's Weekly
archive; the Miller-Cory House Museum for their list of colonial herbs and usages; Alice Keesey Mecoy's blog “John Brown Kin”; the John Brown Wax Museum, the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, the Harpers Ferry Historical Association, the Jefferson County Museum, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, the Jefferson County Public Library; PBS's
History Detectives
program with special thanks to historian Gwen Wright; the Museum of the Confederacy, the Louisa May Alcott Orchard House, the Saratoga Historical Foundation, and the EVMS Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine.

I must give due reverence and credit to the writers who dug into history for me and presented the information in packaged books, essays, articles, and other primary sources. I could not have written this book without their precedential work and the comfort of having these authorities stacked across my writing desk:
The Browns of Madronia
by Damon G. Nalty;
The Californians: After Harper's Ferry: California Refuge for John Brown's Family
by Jean Libby;
Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Antebellum South
by Gladys-Marie Fry; and to the fiction that informed and lit my imagination:
Cloudsplitter
by Russell Banks;
Cold Mountain
by Charles Frazier;
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott; and
Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen.

Immeasurable thanks to friends who shared their innermost heartaches and joys—and never once balked at my pointed questions, inane bantering, or irrational tears. Thank you for your uncensored, treasured friendship and for allowing me to be part of your families: Christy and JC Fore, Stacy Rich and Eric Schatten, Mary and Courtney Holland, Kristin
and Jason Romesburg. Your little ones, my honorary nieces and nephews, are proof of modern miracles and ancient promises.

Significant thanks to my shining-star person, Christy Fore. Without you, my creative process would not be complete. I would not be complete. I could go and on…as you know and have e-mail evidence, but I'll leave the gushing to our secret correspondences. Much love to Kelsey Grace and Lainey Faith (because they deserve to have their names in this book, too).

Endless thanks to bookish friends who have supported, loved, and cheered me from coast to coast and around the globe while researching and writing this novel: truest “Peppah Sister” Jenna Blum, Caroline Leavitt (cowgirl boot blinger), Beth Hoffman (#Happydale), Emmy Miller (goddess momma), Robin Kall Homonoff and my honorary MOT family (Emily, Burt, David, Ari), Chris Bohjalian, Jen Pooley, my SSS (you know who you are, Lovin); Edan Lepucki, Patrick Brown, and D'Bean for proving that writer parents are über-cool (organic pomegranates and yoga pants forevah!); Therese Walsh (T-ea sis) and my Writer Unboxed friends; Kathy Parker, Marcie Koehler, and the Best Book Club beauties; the independent bookstores and book clubs across the nation and globe who've crusaded and cheered my work, you are the fuel to my rocket ship, unquestionably.

To my family, no acknowledgment or reverence or gratitude is enough. You are the underpinning of my spirit. Without you, I'd be a lost button. Your daily support, prayers, and eternal love through sunshine and rain are the true definition of
family
: my dashing younger brothers Andrew and Jason McCoy, my best friends and heroes; my grandparents Wilfredo and Maria Norat, Grandma Mona Louise McCoy, and all my relations, near and far. Special thanks to Aunt Gloria O'Brien for showing me the beauty of an adoption family. Titi Ivonne Tennent for truly being a second mother, singing “Going to the Chapel” in the car on my wedding day, three-way hugging me from sobs to laughter that October 2013 afternoon, and so much more. You are my magical God-mommy.

Most of all, thanks to my parents, Eleane and Curtis McCoy. I am humbled and grateful beyond life and breath to be your daughter. Mommacita,
you know the true beats of my heart. Daddio, to whom this book is dedicated, you are the reflection of agape. Thank you for driving me to West Virginia and walking Harpers Ferry corner to corner in the blistering heat with a smile and equal zeal for my characters. We'll never know why they moved that old firehouse, but we'll always have KFC buckets of chicken on the road trip.

To my husband, Brian (a.k.a. Doc B), we've been riding this trail together since high school but over the years of writing this book, your courage, unflappable good nature, and faith have led us to blessed new territory. Daily, I'm awed by your talents and compassion, and bolstered by your abundant love. Thanks for asking me to the prom those decades ago and for telling me I'm always enough—sometimes a plenty handful. Play that K-Ci & JoJo cassette tape. I thank God that I finally found you.

About the Author

S
ARAH
M
C
C
OY
is author of the
New York Times, USA Today
, and international bestseller
The Baker's Daughter
, a 2012 Goodreads Choice Award Best Historical Fiction nominee; the novella “The Branch of Hazel,” in
Grand Central;
and
The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico
. Her work has been featured in
Real Simple, The Millions, Your Health Monthly, Huffington Post
, and other publications. She has taught English writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. She calls Virginia home but presently lives with her husband, an Army physician, and their dog, Gilly, in El Paso, Texas. Connect with Sarah on Twitter at
@SarahMMcCoy
, on her
Facebook
fan page, or via her website,
www.sarahmccoy.com
.