by Caleb Carr
Special thanks to my brother Ethan for his help managing Misery Mountain; to my nephew Sam Carr, whose affection for this place has always been appreciated; my “other” nephew, Ben, for his sketches and good humor; my niece Lydia and her husband Michael; my niece, Gabriela, wherever in the world she may be; and my last (I hope) niece, Marion, for her patient attempts to teach me to fly, which, ultimately, only resulted in my doubling down on armor. I also want to salute the Friends Seminary graduating classes of 1976 and 1977, who have re-emerged to give me support and inspiration—just as they did, so many years ago.
To the disciples of the gotcha game, let me warn in advance that this book is laced with small homages to both literature and classic cinema; I have learned from unfortunate experience that I’d better say this now. These references have nothing to do with plot, but are there for the enjoyment of those wise enough to identify them. A word about contemporary fiction: when one shrouds one’s work in history, the unfortunate tendency of readers to try to identify just who in a writer’s life inspired which character is suspended—return to our own time, and that tendency is immediately resumed. Let me only say that the characters in this book are, precisely like the characters in my historical fiction, an amalgam of experience, imagination, and research. I would not pause to mention this save that certain masters of the obvious are going to link certain characters to real people who don’t need the hassle: obviously, this is most true of Ambyr Kurtz, who is not connected in any way (save a few admirable traits) to a certain E.R.H., who remains only a source of inspiration and admiration, these many years later.
A final word on the appearance in this book of Marcianna, an exotic animal in private ownership: some readers who do not pay careful attention to the text may interpret this as a sign that I approve of such ownership. But I hope the very opposite is clear to those who read the novel thoroughly. Marcianna was created under the careful tutelage of Big Cat Rescue’s owners, Carole and Howard Baskin, with whom I have long been associated, and without whose kindness this book would not exist. BCR is a blessing of an organization that has long fought, as have I, against the private ownership of big cats (anyone reading this book should try to support them); and what is in fact pertinent about Marcianna is not her appearance in private ownership, but her rescue from one of the innumerable rackets called petting zoos that overpopulate our country with unwanted adult big cats. In one such a place Marcianna contracted feline infectious leukemia, as so many cats, large and small, do in similarly filthy and abusive zoos, circuses, and animal “shelters” around the world. That Trajan Jones chooses to invest a great deal of time and money saving her from euthanasia should not obscure this fact; he has the means and, more important, the land with which to do it. But a decision such as his can apply only to individual animals who would be otherwise doomed and who, even if saved, must be kept in isolation from their own kind.
For myself, I still have my hands full with my own Siberian forest warrior, as well as counselor and fixed point, the now somewhat (in)famous Masha. She was rescued from a shelter after her own history of abuse, the effects of which she still suffers, but which have not prevented her from becoming the terror and beauty of my house and my hollow. Does one sense parallels between the two animals? Perhaps, for, as I have said, it is all a matter of mixing experience with imagination. Then, too, I have always agreed most emphatically with Joseph Méry’s remark to Victor Hugo: “God made the cat that man might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger.” But for most of us, it must remain the small cat and not the big that we try to rescue and caress.
BY CALEB CARR
SURRENDER, NEW YORK
THE LEGEND OF BROKEN
THE ITALIAN SECRETARY
THE LESSONS OF TERROR
KILLING TIME
THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS
THE ALIENIST
THE DEVIL SOLDIER
AMERICA INVULNERABLE (WITH JAMES CHACE)
CASING THE PROMISED LAND
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CALEB CARR is a novelist and military historian, and the award-winning author of the New York Times and worldwide bestsellers The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, as well as numerous other works of fiction. His nonfiction works include the critically acclaimed The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians and The Devil Soldier: The Story of Frederick Townsend Ward. A native of New York City, he has spent much of his life in upstate New York, where he now lives.
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