The Winter of the Witch

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

SEVEN YEARS OF MY LIFE went into The Winternight Trilogy, and more kindnesses from more people than I can possibly count. Writing a book is solitary, but finishing a book and publishing it is the work of many, in great and small ways. I am grateful to everyone who went into the forest with Vasya and me, back in 2011, and stuck it out to the bittersweet end.

To the Russian department at Middlebury College, current and former, I suppose this was a slightly unorthodox use of my education, but I am grateful for all those years of history, grammar, and conjugations, without which I would never have undertaken this series. Thanks, in particular, to Tatiana Smorodinskaya and Sergei Davydov, for being mentors and friends, and for checking my translation of Pushkin.

Huge thank-you to my agent, Paul Lucas, who was the very first person not my mom to read this book and believe in it, way back in 2014, and who has been a rock of good advice and common sense ever since. And to everyone at Janklow and Nesbit and Cullen Stanley International, especially Stephanie Koven, Brenna English-Loeb, and Suzannah Bentley.

To the people across the water at Ebury: Gillian Green, Stephanie Naulls, and Tess Henderson, thank you so much for bringing my work to readers in the UK, and thanks for your unfailing hospitality and cupcakes whenever I visited. Special shout-out to Vlad Sever and his team in Croatia who made the single most gorgeous edition of The Bear and the Nightingale I’ve ever seen.

To the folks at Del Rey and Ballantine who have made for my books and for me the very best publishing home a writer could have over the last few years: Thanks to Scott Shannon, Tricia Narwani, Keith Clayton, Jess Bonet, Melissa Sanford, David Moench, Anne Speyer, and Erin Kane.

To Jennifer Hershey, my brilliant editor. Thanks for keeping me going when I didn’t think I could do it; thanks for four years’ worth of good ideas, thanks for sticking with me through all those most questionable drafts. This series wouldn’t exist without you.

To my housemates at Slimhouse: RJ and Pollaidh (girl, you’re an honorary member), Garrett, Camila and Blue, you guys are the best family I could ask for. Having you in my life, rattling around the kitchen, telling bad jokes, making me try yet another terrible beer, and giving me a hard time about the boxes of books under my bed, has kept me sane and happy. Love you all.

To the Johnsons: Peter, Carol Anne, Harrison, and Gracie, thanks for your hospitality and your enthusiasm. To Abhay Morrissey, for taking me flying, literally, when I needed a break. To the Roxendals: Björn, Kim, Josh, David, Eliza, Dana, Mariel, Joel, Hugo, and all of you, thanks for letting me spend all those months on my couch, scribbling. To Allie Brudney, for being amazing, for coming out to every event you can, because college besties are forever. To Jenny Lyons and the rest of the staff of Vermont Book Shop, thanks for your unfailing support. To the folks at Stone Leaf Tea House, thanks for all those winter evenings I spent hanging out in your space, working on my book.

To my family: Mike Buls and Beth Fowler, John Burdine and Sterling Burdine, and Elizabeth Burdine. I love you all. Thanks for everything.

To Evan Johnson, who makes me eat and sleep when all I want to do is write, my running buddy and my adventure buddy, my partner and my best friend. I love you.

Finally, thanks to everyone—far more people than I can name, the booksellers and the book readers who read my book, told a friend, reviewed it somewhere. Thanks to everyone who has gone with Vasya on her journey.

I hope you’ll come with me on the next one.