How the Light Gets In

AUTHOR’S NOTE

As a Canadian, I was raised on lore of the famous Dionne quintuplets, born in Callander, Ontario, in 1934. They were a phenomenon and a sensation. Many of you might have recognized them in my Ouellet Quints, and the truth is, the fictional Ouellets were certainly inspired by the Dionne girls. But in researching How the Light Gets In, I was careful not to delve into the real lives of the Dionne quintuplets. I felt it would be both an intrusion on them, and far too limiting for me. I honestly didn’t want to know what life was really like for the Dionnes. That freed me up to create whatever life I wanted and needed for my Quints.

There are clearly similarities—how could there not be? But the Ouellets are fictional, and their struggles not real. The Dionnes are real. The fact that both families are quints is where the similarity ends. I felt I owed you, and certainly the surviving Dionne Quints, this acknowledgment. They were a wonderful inspiration.