The History of Macedonia is, of course, an imaginary publication, but it was modeled on a 1937 history book entitled Historic Romney, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project for the town council of Romney, West Virginia. I have also used West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, the Project’s state guide, as both a model and a source of information. Berkeley County, in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, is home to a magnificent, professional-grade historical society. I was lucky enough to visit their archive early in the course of my work, and several of their publications have been key resources, particularly A Martinsburg Picture Book, which was both a good visual reference and a spur to the imagination.
In investigating the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Writers’ Project, all roads lead to the Library of Congress, which has by far the world’s largest collection of original documents and papers from those programs. While most researchers in this archive are interested in materials relating to the big-name authors who worked on the Project, I was looking for administrative correspondence, regulations, and instruction manuals, which are harder to find. I am therefore grateful to my sister, Sally Barrows, for doing the sleuthing—and ordering the photocopies!—that made these materials available to me.
Virtually all other research took place at the University Library at the University of California in Berkeley, for the proximity of which I give thanks daily. Histories of labor relations in the southern textile industry in the 1930s, the 1938 Sears catalog, advertisements for finishing schools in West Virginia in 1920, World War I songbooks, 1938 restaurant menus, specifications of safes manufactured in the United States in 1919, LIFE magazines, Federal Writers’ Project publications of unimaginable unimportance—these are just some of the treasures I needed and found in the University Library.
Obviously, The Truth was not built on facts alone. Or, indeed, at all. Fiction was by far the more fractious element of the compound, and I owe enormous thanks to my editors at Random House for their contributions to the making of this novel. Susan Kamil, the first and most faithful advocate of my work, endured some terrible early drafts and labored long and hard to help me excavate the story I was trying to tell. Kara Cesare was invaluable in guiding the craft in the latter part of its journey, and I am deeply grateful for the attention, appreciation, and kindness she brought to the project. Dana Isaacson’s positive response came at an opportune moment and was greatly appreciated.
Throughout this long and convoluted process, my agent, Liza Dawson, has manifested true Macedonian ferocity and devotion, and I am profoundly and permanently grateful to her. I do not believe that this book would exist had it not been for her efforts.
Closer to home, I’d like to express my thanks to my mother, Cynthia Barrows, chief teller of family stories, chief authority in all matters West Virginian, and tireless answerer of annoying questions about regional speech. Thanks also to my father, John Barrows, for his historical contributions and for allowing me to test him on certain points. A few people read the manuscript in various states of undress; I am indebted to Alicia Malet Klein, who read it twice, and to Margo Hackett, who loved what I loved and consequently made me feel like I wasn’t insane. Thanks, too, to Lisa McGuinness and Tom Klein for their good opinions.
Even closer to home—inside it, in fact—is my best reader, Jeffrey Goldstein. He has read every word of every version of this book and has nonetheless managed to remain interested in the book’s characters, integrity, and fate. From the very beginning to the very end, he has always understood what I was aiming for, and he has always liked what he was reading. When everyone else, including me, wanted to throw the manuscript off a cliff, he believed in it. Grateful is too chilly a word, but he, as usual, will know what I mean.
By Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Annie Barrows
The Ivy and Bean Series
Ivy and Bean
Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go
Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record
Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter
Ivy and Bean: Bound to Be Bad
Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance
Ivy and Bean: What’s the Big Idea?
Ivy and Bean: No News Is Good News
Ivy and Bean Make the Rules
Ivy and Bean Take the Case
The Magic Half
Magic in the Mix
About the Author
Annie Barrows is the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half and Magic in the Mix; she is also co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Annie lives in Northern California with her husband and her two daughters.
anniebarrows.com
To inquire about booking Annie Barrows for a speaking engagement, please contact the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com.
The Truth According to Us Page 48