The Long March Home
Page 27
Yezi could see her mother’s smiling face. She closed her eyes: Mama, I know you can see your father now. You can rest in peace now. You are home, dear Mama. And I am at home, too.
When they made it to Agnes’s car, parked outside, Yezi looked up into the sky and saw a swallow gracefully joining a flock of birds that were soaring effortlessly, swooping and weaving in long ribbons, flying freely in the clear, blue sky.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply grateful to my editor at Inanna Publications, Luciana Ricciutelli, for her dedicated editing and brilliant suggestions that have made all the difference.
I would like to thank the Toronto Arts Council for its grant assistance to this writing project.
My thanks also go to my critique pals: Marlene Ritchie, Manda Djinn, Loretta Hemstead, Paul Ulrich and Katharine Williams, who read the manuscript in its earlier version and provided me with their honest and useful feedback.
I owe personal notes of thanks to Marie Laing, Penelope Stuart, Carol Mortensen and Dorothy Rawrek, who are always there for me.
Last, but certainly not least, I am thankful to my husband, Jean-Marc, and to my son, Shu, for their patience and forever support of my writing.
Photo: Dorothy Rawek
Born in China, Zoë S. Roy was an eyewitness to the Red Terror under Mao’s regime. Her short fiction has appeared in Canadian Stories and Thought Magazine. She holds an M.ED. in Adult Education and an MA in Atlantic Canada Studies from the University of New Brunswick and Saint Mary’s University. She lives and works in Toronto as an adult educator. Her first book, an acclaimed collection of short stories, Butterfly Tears, was published by Inanna Publications in 2009. This is her first novel.