The Midnight Bargain
Page 33
“A bit,” Beatrice admitted. “But we can’t stop here.”
“We won’t stop until we get to Sanchi,” Ianthe promised. “We’ll bring the Clayborn Method to everyone. And Little Unknown will be born on the sea, just like her auntie.”
Beatrice leaned against the back of the bench seat. “It could be a him.”
Ianthe smiled. “Fandariathras told me.”
“Oh! What should we name her, then?”
“I think . . . Harriet.”
Beatrice laid her hand on her belly. “Hello, Harriet. Are you Harriet?”
Inside her, Harriet kicked.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Caitlin McDonald, my agent, who took a book I started writing for fun and turned it into a serious work, then found it a great publisher. Everything you do for me is amazing.
Thank you to Sarah Guan, who helped shape this book into the volume it is today with a dozen questions that deepened every aspect of this book.
Thank you to Liz Gorinsky, whose vision made Erewhon possible, and welcomed this book into the first year’s schedule.
Thank you to Martin Cahill, who went big when it came time to promote this book and get it in front of the people who would enjoy it the most.
Thanks to everyone at Erewhon who dazzled me with their speed and attention to detail—my production team did amazing work to put this book together. Lauren Hougen, my production editor; my copy editor Liana Krissoff; my sales manager, Kayla Burson; and Jillian Feinberg, who did so many things known and unknown under the unassuming title of “assistant.”
I want to thank Dr. A. J. Townsend, for reading and asking the questions that made me think harder about my world and what I was trying to say, and for the hilarious pitch of “Pokémon, but make it Jane Austen.”
I had a number of readers who helped me smooth out the details after a revision. Thank you to Rachel Gutin, Virginia Wilson, Jen Coster, and Eva Papier for sharing your reactions and insights.
I also want to thank the Metropolitan Museum of Art for its online collection, which provided hundreds of visual examples of textiles and period fashions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. L. Polk is the World Fantasy Award–winning author of the critically acclaimed debut novel Witchmark, which was also nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Aurora, and Lambda Literary Awards. It was named one of the best books of 2018 according to NPR, Publishers Weekly,BuzzFeed, the Chicago Review,BookPage, and the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog. She lives in Alberta, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE MIDNIGHT BARGAIN
Copyright © 2020 by Chelsea Polk
Edited by Sarah T. Guan
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020942474
ISBN 978-1-64566-014-9 (ebook)
Cover design and interior elements by Micaela Alciano
Cover images by Shutterstock
Author photograph by Mike Tan
Printed in the United States of America
First US Edition: October 2020