Teatime for the Firefly
Page 38
Although this book contains actual historical facts and references to real places, it must be read as a work of fiction. The small towns of Silchar and Mariani, for example, have been reimagined, and the names of some of the tea gardens are real, but have no geographic relevance to the story. What I have tried to do, diligently, is to capture the authentic flavor of Assam and tea-plantation life. The story of the discovery of Assam tea and Sir Bruce tramping through the jungles has been colored by my overactive imagination. The same goes for the history of Assam and the riots in Mariani. My intent here was not to trivialize or distort facts, but to create a rich and layered backdrop for my story.
Shona Patel
Fountain Hills, Arizona
February 2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Several people were instrumental in bringing Teatime for the Firefly to fruition. To them I owe my sincere gratitude:
The lively community of retired tea planters, who shared with me photographs and stories and answered my pesky, random and often irrelevant questions with humor and love. Davey Lamont, Larry Brown, Ali Zaman, Alan Leonard, Alan Lane, Ravi Lai, Roy Church and David Air, I owe it all to you.
Doctor Prithvish Nag, for being an invaluable sounding board for my research.
Kiran Grover, Maya Deb and Baruna Dey, for sharing stories of my parents’ early life in tea.
Sarah Sharma, for human-friendly legal advice.
Rob Hall, my first writing teacher.
My early readers Anne Coe, Roxane Wellman, Elizabeth Boisson and Diana Kempton, for their insightful feedback. And WRC, my Wednesday writers group, for keeping me grounded.
My sister Mithoo Wadia, for excavating stories and being the kind of sounding board only a sister can be.
Mimi Dutt, my friend and tough-love critic, whose critique I value and trust.
Chet Ross, my mentor and secret ally.
April Eberhardt, for being all that I could ask for in an agent. Your wise counsel and unfailing support made me trust myself as a writer.
Susan Swinwood, my gifted and diligent editor, who felt the pulse of the story. Teatime is a fuller and richer novel, thanks to you.
The talented team at Mira Books, for their efforts in putting this novel together.
And finally with love: Vinoo, who built me the best writer’s desk, who listens to my heart and always says WDGJ. Thank you.
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ISBN: 9781460319291
TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY
Copyright © 2013 by Shona Patel
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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