In addition to old cameras and photographs and ephemeral prints, I love antique books. These have also found their way into this novel, including my 1768 edition of The Adventures of Telemachus, the 1859 Annual of Scientific Discovery, the aforementioned The Night-Side of Nature, an 1854 edition of Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, and all four volumes of the 1867 edition of A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. Readers may wonder about the erudition of the young protagonist, Silas Bird, but the simple fact is, people used to read a lot in those days. Although there were popular pulp novels at the time, it’s unlikely that Silas would have had access to anything other than classical literature in a home full of Martin Bird’s books. Silas’s verbosity and expressive language are a reflection of the flowery tone of many of these works, which would have formed him, both in character and spirit, as much as his friends and teachers might have, if he’d had any. As for his “brush with lightning,” as unlikely as that might seem, this incident was inspired by a short chapter, “The Photographic Effects of Lightning,” in the previously mentioned 1859 Annual of Scientific Discovery, detailing the “arborescent character” of imprints left on people’s backs. As most writers will tell you, sometimes you really can’t make this stuff up.
Lastly, in terms of antiquarian inspirations for this book, I should also mention my love of old musical instruments. I have a “coffin-shaped” violin case from the 1850s that set off what started out as a minor story line and ended up becoming key to the book. The epigraph of this book is a variation of an eighteenth-century folk ballad called “Fare Thee Well,” also known as “The True Lover’s Farewell,” “Ten Thousand Miles,” and “The Turtle Dove.” It’s come down through the years in various forms and with floating, interchangeable lyrics, but I’ve combined my three favorite verses for this book. It is quite possible that Elsa Morrow would have played this song on her “Bavarian violin,” as it appeared in music collections of the time. As for violins, when researching what kind Elsa Morrow might have owned, I was drawn to the word Mittenwald, or mitten im Wald, which, in German, literally means “in the midst of the forest.” The reasons, after reading the book, are probably obvious. The idea of the Woods as a kind of ancient impenetrable place, harking back to the dawn of known time, weaves its way in and out of these pages.
I did a great deal of research on counterfeiting for this book, and I hope the FBI doesn’t come knocking on my door because of my Google search history. Particularly helpful were A Nation of Counterfeiters by Stephen Mihm, 2007; Three Years with Counterfeiters, Smugglers, and Boodle Carriers by George Pickering Burnham, 1875; and Counterfeiting and Technology by Bob McCabe, 2016. That the United States experienced a surge in counterfeiting throughout the nineteenth century, which coincided with the evolution of photography and the rise of spiritualism, seemed like too much of a thematic coincidence not to incorporate into this story.
In the novel, Elsa Morrow has a bound copy of the poem “My Spirit” by Anonymous of Ledbury. The poem is actually by Thomas Traherne, a seventeenth-century English writer and theologian. I was drawn to Traherne’s fascination with what, for him, was the new science of “infinite space,” as well as his reverence for the natural world, which he believed was the path to human “felicity.” Although his work remained forgotten by the world for several centuries, lost inside the vaults of a Herefordshire family estate, it was discovered in the latter half of the 1800s, and subsequently published and attributed to him in the early twentieth century. That bits and pieces of Traherne’s work, unattributed and unacknowledged, could have been found and published by private means is plausible if not factual. Antiquarian bookstalls are full of these “anonymous” works printed in crude type and adorned by engravers, so while I have no proof that such a book was ever printed, I have no proof that it wasn’t. That’s enough for a work of fiction.
As for what type of fiction, I know this may be labeled historical fiction because it takes place in the 1800s, but I offer a small disclaimer: my goal was not to portray real historical events here but to tell a small story that happens to be set within a certain time period. Historical novels can be seen as road maps through history, but this book is more like a river running through it. Silas embarks on a journey through nameless Woods outside a fictional town. Since just about every forest in the Midwest would have borne witness to uncountable atrocities enacted against Indigenous peoples by European and American invaders through the centuries, it is natural to assume that Silas, a boy who sees ghosts, would also encounter them as he traversed hallowed ground. I encourage readers to read the extraordinary An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, adapted from the adult book by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, for a comprehensive account of the many and diverse peoples who lived in these lands long before the Europeans arrived, and the many battles, broken treaties, “removals,” and massacres they endured in the centuries that followed. All of Tim Tingle’s novels—in particular, How I Became a Ghost—are beautifully written and take place in and around actual historical events. The Birchbark House series by Louise Erdrich is also high on my list of recommendations.
This novel begins in 1860, just a year before the start of the American Civil War. One of the characters, Desimonde Chalfont, mentions that his family moved to Kansas as “free-staters” in order to be able to vote against the expansion of slavery in America. His younger sister, Matilda, was killed in the crossfire between “jayhawkers,” who were abolitionists, and “border ruffians,” who were militantly pro-slavery. While Desimonde’s family history is not central to the narrative of the book, it speaks to the kind of man he is. For more about the abolitionist movement, there are no better books than those by Frederick Douglass, including Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; My Bondage and My Freedom; and The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. As for Deputy Jack Beautyman, he mentions having been on the losing side of the Mexican-American War because both he and Desimonde fought in the Saint Patrick’s Battalion against the United States: Desi because he was against governmental expansion of slavery, and Jack because he’d heard that Santa Anna, the larger-than-life general of the Mexican forces, had once proclaimed himself the “Napoleon of the West.” Jack hoped that Mexico, if victorious under Santa Anna, would adopt the Napoleonic Penal Code of 1810, inspired by France’s 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which decriminalized homosexuality. Desi and Jack became fast friends while serving time in a Rio Grande prison for their allegiances, and after Desi’s well-to-do father bought their “official” pardons, they moved to California to mine gold for a year before relocating to Rosasharon. This, of course, is just my backstory for them, having nothing to do with the events in the book, but I am so fond of the two of them, I thought I’d share their little histories here.
Even though most of the characters in this book are men of a certain time and place in American history, in my mind this is a book that is completely driven by a woman. A mother. She is the central character, off the page, connecting and propelling and protecting from afar within the limits of what she can do, which are unknowable. Ultimately, this is a book about love, which never dies, and the invisible connections that exist between people, both the living and the dead.
My world, my being, my life, my love for books, my everything, was guided, nurtured, inspired, and motivated by one person. My mother. This book is for her.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you, Erin Clarke, my incredible editor, for all your guidance and all your patience while I figured out this strange little book. I remember the calmness with which you received my news, about five years ago, that I had literally thrown out the four hundred manuscript pages I’d been working on and would be starting from scratch—someday in the unspecified future. That kind of unconditional support from an editor means a lot to a writer, and I’m relieved beyond measure that you think it was
worth the wait.
Thank you to Barbara Perris, Amy Schroeder, Nancee Adams, Alison Kolani, and the ever-on-it Artie Bennett for your insightful and diligent copyediting, and for making my work better and stronger in every way. Thank you to Jake Eldred for putting this terrific team together and making sure all the pistons were firing and ready to go for the speedy turnaround. Thank you, April Ward, Tim Terhune, and the rest of the design and production group for making Pony exquisitely beautiful, inside and outside. To Judith Haut, John Adamo, Dominique Cimina: we have been on this adventure together since 2012, and I thank my lucky stars for having found my Team Wonder from the get-go. Barbara Marcus and Felicia Frazier, I’ve been blessed to have you two amazing women blazing paths and leading the enormously talented folks at Random House Children’s Books. I look forward to riding Pony with you on whatever path he takes. It’ll be a joyous journey. To Jillian Vandall Miao, one of my favorite people in the world, thank you for being the best traveling companion an author and friend could hope for, but especially for that phone call you made after you’d finished the manuscript. It meant more to me than you can possibly know.
Thank you to Professor John N. Low, JD, PhD, of the Ohio State University, director of the Newark Earthworks Center and a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, for lending your expertise in American Indian histories and Native identities to your very thoughtful read.
Thank you to Alyssa Eisner Henkin, my agent, for always having my back, and for being such a champion of all my books—especially this one. There’s no one in this industry whose instincts I trust more, both from a literary and a business point of view, and I’m so grateful that I get to be one of the beneficiaries of all your talent and hard work. I feel like we’ve walked ten thousand miles together already, and I hope we walk another ten thousand.
Thank you to Molly Fletcher for your invaluable contributions to the book trailer. Your beautiful violin playing and composition for the solo in “Fare Thee Well,” and your help with the production, elevated this project to heights I could not have imagined. Thank you to Lane at Moon Recording in Greenpoint for facilitating the socially distant recording, and to Aiden for his help on the video shoot.
Thank you to Rebecca Vitkus for being such a wonderful contributor to the trailer and for all your wisdom and patience with my grammar and copyediting queries. Most of all, though, thank you for bringing so much joy into our household in the strange year that was 2020.
Thank you to the doctors and nurses, the delivery people, the first responders, the teachers, and the postal and essential workers, who kept the world going during the COVID-19 months of isolation, which is when I wrote these pages.
Thank you to my Amalfi mamas for keeping me sane and laughing.
Thank you, Papi, for Ithaca.
Thank you, most especially, to my wondrous family, Russell, Caleb, and Joseph. Thank you for lending your prodigious talents to the book trailer—both in front of and behind the camera. Russell, what can I say? We did this together—all of it. Thank you and you’re welcome. And, Caleb and Joseph, I am in awe of both of you, my wonders, and love you more than words can ever say. You make this world so beautiful.
Raquel Jaramillo
R. J. Palacio is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder, which has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The book’s message inspired the Choose Kind movement and has been embraced by readers around the world, with the book published in over fifty languages. Her other bestselling books include 365 Days of Wonder, Auggie & Me, the picture book We’re All Wonders, and the graphic novel White Bird, which is being filmed as a major motion picture. Palacio lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two sons, and two dogs.
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