She suddenly jumped, hearing a dry, papery voice behind her: Iris Tintern with her crisply waved hair, oatmeal sweater and drab apron (minus the yellow plastic-rimmed tinted glasses), waving a pencil stub.
“Right, then, what will it be today?” asked Iris, staring at each of them with a laserlike intensity. “How about trying some Mister Whippy–style ice cream from my brand-new Electro Freeze machine?”
“I’ll have the ice cream, Miss Tintern,” said Ian. “Chocolate, please.”
“The same for me,” echoed Zoé and Pippin.
“We’re having a special on wax dragon teeth,” said Iris. Zoé felt herself shrinking beneath her intense gaze, yet at the same time she was relieved to see the old, familiar Iris again. “Cut-rate prices, today only. Any takers?”
“I think we’ll skip the teeth,” said Ian.
“Yeah, they look kind of melted,” added Pippin.
“They are all melted, dearies, which is why I’ve marked them down,” snapped Iris. “If I charged any less, I’d be giving them away.”
With a scornful glance, Iris shuffled off in her crepe-soled shoes.
“Hey, guys,” whispered Zoé, “isn’t it great to be back?”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My sincere thanks to:
Stephen Fraser, literary agent extraordinaire, for his vision, expertise, friendship and guidance along the way.
My marvelous editor, Krista Vitola, for her keen editorial eye, her creative suggestions and her boundless enthusiasm.
Beverly Horowitz and the Delacorte Press team, especially copy editor Colleen Fellingham and crew. Also the artists who transformed this book: designer Jinna Shin, illustrator Charles Santoso, cartographer Fred van Deelen and above all, Fernando Juarez, whose beautiful artwork graces the covers of The Owl Keeper and The Glass Puzzle.
My critique group members, who offered sage advice, brainstormed ideas and read endless versions of this book—Laurie Jacobs, Donna McArdle, Christopher Doyle, Lenice Strohmeier, Valerie McCaffrey, Patricia Bridgman, Linda Teitel—and Pat Lowery Collins, longtime champion of The Glass Puzzle. Many thanks also to Lila Olson, the book’s first young reader!
My sons, Ian and Derek, and my daughter-in-law, Heather, who all took the time to read early drafts and cheered me on. An enormous hug for my husband, Peter, my Welsh consultant, who shared his thoughts and ideas, read and edited countless pages and helped me in a thousand ways. If not for him, I’d never have discovered Tenby.
Finally, a tip of the hat to the real Tenby. I hope the people of Tenby will overlook any liberties I’ve taken in my descriptions of their one-of-a-kind seaside town.
CHRISTINE BRODIEN-JONES is the author of The Owl Keeper, a dystopian novel for middle-grade readers, and The Scorpions of Zahir, an adventure-fantasy set in the Moroccan desert. She studied writing at Emerson College in Boston and has been a reporter, an editor, and a teacher. The Glass Puzzle is set in the Welsh seaside town of Tenby—that mysterious windswept place inhabited by the ghosts of pirates. Christine and her husband, Peter, live in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Deer Isle, Maine.
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