by S. E. Grove
Sophia nodded, overcome.
Wren grinned. “Excellent. I wish the vessel your parents knew, the Roost, was here with me, but for reasons I will explain I had to find other means of travel. But we will find suitable arrangements.” He led them toward the harbor, holding one large, weathered hand over his eyes to shield them.
The sun, as it always did in Seville, shone down so brightly that Sophia had difficulty making out all the various flags and sails that fluttered in the harbor. But as the sun hid behind a tall mast, Sophia suddenly spotted one particular flag that made her heart stop. Her eyes followed down the mast to the ship, searching eagerly for the ship’s name. There it was: the Swan. A broad smile broke out across Sophia’s face. “A pair of pistols and a sword,” she said aloud. “Fair company, indeed.”
The hope flared up in her, quick and sudden, that Theo had found his way aboard. She could not wait to see him. “I think I know who will take us west,” she said, making her way to the dock.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A heartfelt thanks to all the readers, booksellers, librarians, and fellow writers—young and old—who received The Glass Sentence with such warmth and enthusiasm. Your readership is inspiring, and it encouraged me to take some risks in this world of the Great Disruption.
To the readers who grappled with early versions of The Golden Specific—Pablo, Alejandra, Paul, Tom, Moneeka, and Sean—your comments were invaluable to the shaping of this book. Thank you for your willingness to read those very unpolished drafts, in some cases multiple times!
I feel extremely lucky that the Mapmakers books have a home with Viking and the Penguin Young Readers Group; thank you to Ken Wright and so many others who have supported these rather unusual creations in countless ways. The experience of working with Jessica Shoffel, Tara Shanahan, and the rest of the marketing team has changed my view of how books reach readers—entirely for the better. I am grateful to them and to Jim Hoover, Eileen Savage, Janet Pascal, Tricia Callahan, Abigail Powers, Krista Ahlberg, and the outstanding sales force at PYRG for transforming the stages that follow solitary writing. They used to be daunting, and now, thanks to you, they seem exciting and fun.
I am grateful to Dave A. Stevenson for bringing Shadrack to life once again through such wonderful maps and to Stephanie Hans for capturing so perfectly a sense of mystery, adventure, and foreboding in her artwork.
Laura Bonner has somehow persuaded readers in places all around the globe to take the Mapmakers books in hand, and I am so thankful (and amazed) to know that this intentionally global story will be read globally.
I am deeply grateful to Sharyn November for caring about this world and these characters as if they were just as vital, just as real, as the ones around us. Sharyn, your passion for these people brings out the best in them. (And maybe sometimes the worst. No one will ever loathe Broadgirdle like you do!)
As ever, I feel lucky beyond words to benefit from the infallible reading sense of Dorian Karchmar. Thank you for your insights and sensibilities, which I have come to rely upon so greatly. I trust your judgment more than my own!
I am grateful to my mother for affirming in her every statement the value and importance of writing, to my father for all of the spirited ideas (even the ones I didn’t take), and to my brother for the sharp-eyed readings and rereadings—despite the fact that this is “fahn-tasy.”
As he flipped through the first galleys of this book, tearing out my sticky notes, Rowan offered exuberant exclamations that I think were complimentary. Thank you, Rowan, for somehow putting it all in perspective.
Lastly, I wish to thank Alton, to whom this book is dedicated. Thank you for reading section by section, chapter by chapter, over and over and over. Thank you for making the best efforts of my imagination—Theo’s humor, Errol’s gallantry, and Goldenrod’s wisdom—pale in comparison.
S. E. Grove is a historian and world traveler. She is working on the final volume of the Mapmakers trilogy.
www.segrovebooks.com
www.TheGlassSentence.com
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