Winter's End

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank several people who have accompanied me through the writing of this novel: Thierry Laroche of Gallimard Jeunesse, for his helpful and always friendly comments; Jean-Philippe Arrou-Vignod of Gallimard Jeunesse, who reassured me about the darker side of the story; Dr. Patrick Carrère for his advice on medical subjects; Christopher Murray, musician, for his equally valuable help with musical matters; Rachel and my children, Emma and Colin, who all three give me the inestimable gift, constantly renewed, of being there for me.

And finally I would like to express my great gratitude to the memory of Kathleen Ferrier, the British contralto, whose voice and whose story both moved me deeply and have gone into this story. But for her, this novel would not have been written.