All the Winters After (33 page)

Once long ago, I wrote about fifty pages of a book and then put it aside, and for complicated reasons, I didn't pick it up again until twenty years later. That book eventually became this one. I guess you could say I now have about twenty years of accumulated gratitude spilling over, and much of it goes to my godsend of an agent, Elisabeth Weed, who believed in this story and who took the time to read and reread as the novel found its shape. She and her assistant, Dana Murphy, offered thoughtful feedback that made all the difference. I'm so fortunate that I get to work with Jenny Meyer, foreign agent extraordinaire, who has made it possible for me to reach readers in other countries. Special thanks to her and hard-working assistants Shane King and Zoe Weitzman.

A deep bow of appreciation goes to Dominique Raccah and the amazing team at Sourcebooks, especially to my esteemed editor, Shana Drehs, a bright star who led the way, and to Anna Michels, for her smart editorial guidance. Heather Moore, Valerie Pierce, Beth Oleniczek, Heidi Weiland, Margaret Coffee, Chris Bauerle, Stephanie Graham, Heather Hall, Sabrina Baskey, Patricia Esposito, Adrienne Krogh, and Brittany Vibbert each played an important role in the publication process. Thank you, Sourcebooks!

I'm forever indebted to my gifted critique partners, Laurie Richards and Chelo Ludden, for marking up and talking through numerous drafts, and to those generous souls who read the manuscript in one or more of its various forms and whose comments helped immensely: Nancy Campana, Daniel Prince, Molly Eckler, Colleen Morton Busch, Amy Franklin-Willis, Suzanne Haley, Nicole Haley, Jan Aston, Shannon Barrow, and Melanie Thorne. I'm also grateful to the talented group of writer friends at Book Pregnant for support and advice on the ins and outs of writing and publishing. And Diana Foster and Angelica Allen share the award for attending more of my book readings than anyone should ever have to endure.

Thanks to Mark Madgett and Spencer Nilsen, old friends who told me a funny story about a moose head that inspired Kache and Denny's escapade with Anthony. And I'm beholden to Catkin Kilcher Burton, who, in one of those wonderfully synchronistic encounters, hosted my husband, Stan, and me at her lovely cabin in Homer (which is available on VRBO, for anyone who's interested) and took us through the old family homestead, sharing tales of growing up there—decades after I'd first read about her grandparents and many other Homer homesteaders in the book that started it all:
In Those Days: Alaska Pioneers of the Lower Kenai Peninsula
.

While that book planted the first seed, I also was lucky enough to discover the following, which all helped the story take root and grow:
Lost in the Taiga: One Russian Family's Fifty-Year Struggle for Survival and Religious Freedom in the Siberian Wilderness
by Vasily Peskov;
In the Shadow of Antichrist: The Old Believers of Alberta
by David Z. Scheffel; the booklets of Old Believers' food, clothing, history, and traditions written by the schoolchildren of Nikolaevsk School, Nikolaevsk, Alaska;
Kachemak Bay Communities: Their Histories, Their Mysteries
by Janet R. Klein; and
Kachemak Bay, Alaska
by the Homer Foundation. A long meandering afternoon at the Pratt Museum in Homer helped fill in even more details.

I've been blessed beyond measure by a circle of loving family and friends, old and new, who've turned out in droves to support my work in a myriad of ways. A big hug of appreciation for each and every one of you, and especially to all my parents: Jan Aston, Jan Beste, Jan Halverson, and Stan Halverson Sr. (And yes, I really do have three moms named Jan.) To my boys' Grandma Alaska, Carrie Prince. And to those of you I still miss every single day: my dad, Don Beste; my stepdad, Bill Aston; and my writing sister, Elle Newmark. Thank you all.

And finally, this full heart of mine has my kids to thank: Daniel Prince, Michael Prince, Karli Halverson, and Taylor Halverson, who make it all worthwhile. And my husband, Stan Halverson, who makes it all possible. I met him in eighth grade, but it took until our twenty-year high school reunion to realize we were meant to be in this together. When it comes to getting some of the big things in life right, it seems I'm on the twenty-year plan.

Photo credit: Steven Rothfield

Seré Prince Halverson is the international bestselling author of
The Underside of Joy
, which was published in eighteen languages. She and her husband have four grown children and live in Northern California in a house in the woods.

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