Keturah and Lord Death

Acknowledgments

Some books come quietly—they are intimately the writer’s own, and even the editor need only touch it lightly before it is ready to be shared with readers.

Some, like this one, come with much help from others, and thanks are necessary. I wrote the first few pages of this book in a desperate attempt to fulfill a page quota while in my MFA program. My advisor at the time, Brock Cole, said, “There’s a book in there. You should write it.” When a writer of Mr. Cole’s stature says you should do something, you are wise to comply. I’m glad I did.

I wish to thank M. T. Anderson and Jane Resh Thomas, who nursed along subsequent pages and encouraged me to see it through to the end.

I am very grateful to my typist and dear friend Valerie Battrum, without whom this book would still be sitting on my desk, a stack of hand-scribbled pages. She is always among my first and most valued readers. I am indebted also to Stephen Roxburgh, Katya Rice, and my daughter Sarah for their editorial expertise.

Thanks go to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for their timely financial assistance.

Finally, I express my love to my youngest sister, Lorraine, who died many years ago of cystic fibrosis at the age of eleven. Now, as a mother and grandmother, I realize what a long journey dying must be for a child to make alone. I wish I could have walked with her a little way. This book is my way of doing so.