Yes, My Darling Daughter

by Margaret Leroy

  The skipper starts up the engine again.

  We’re a long way out from the shore now. Quite suddenly the sea gets choppy; we’re moving beyond the sheltering arms of the bay. The little boat lurches alarmingly. Sylvie is leaning over the side, and I panic that she could fall in. I reach out and grab the hem of her fleece.

  The skipper, so at ease on the sea, is amused by my protectiveness.

  “She’ll be okay, ma’am,” he tells me. “You mustn’t worry yourself.”

  Sylvie feels my tug and looks over her shoulder toward me. Her face is luminous. Then she turns to look forward again, to face the way we’re sailing, with the depth of unknowable darkness below her, and before her the blue far horizon where your mind stops, and all around, the acres of shining sea.

  Acknowledgments

  My thanks are due to the following people: Sarah Crichton, my brilliant and inspirational editor; Cailey Hall, for being unfailingly helpful; Kathleen Anderson, my marvelous agent, for all her hard work on behalf of my writing; Catherine Burke, my U.K. editor, for her wonderful commitment to the book; all the team at Mira; and my U.K. agent, Laura Longrigg, who has supported me in so many ways, both intellectual and emotional. I am deeply grateful to all of you.

  Thanks also to Vicki Tippet and Madeleine Fullerton, for sharing stories and book recommendations, and to Lucy Floyd, for her wise comments on an early draft of the book.

  Of the books I read while writing Yes, My Darling Daughter, two were particularly fascinating: Children Who Have Lived Before, by Carol Bowman, and Old Souls, by Tom Shroder. Thanks as well to Lynne McTaggart and the “Living the Field” course.

  Finally, thanks to Mick, Becky, and Izzie, for all their love and encouragement, and because they loved Connemara as much as I did.