House of Rougeaux(79)

A voice said, Lay it down now, Child.

A lone sailboat scuttled over the water, leaving a wake like the undulating veil of a bride.

Lay it all down.





Historical Note


Though House of Rougeaux is a work of fiction, there are a few real historical figures in the book. However, the appearances of these people in the story–the Reverend Charles Este of Montreal, Shadrach Minkins and his wife Mary, Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, the Trinidadian barrister Henry Sylvester Williams, and Jeannette Meyers Thurber, the founder of the National Conservatory of Music–are fictional. In the case of Mary Minkins (called Margaret in this book) nothing is known about her other than that she was Irish, and that the couple’s first two children died from illnesses when they were very young.





Acknowledgments


Heartfelt thanks to Colleen Frary, Leah Catwrangleur, Leora Hoshall, Elena Andrade, Damon Orion, Erin Renwick, Grace Duong, Eunice Martel and Miriam Stzybel for their generous feedback on parts or all of this work. Thanks to my mom Jo-ann Rosen for enthusiastic reading, to my dad Louis Jaeckel for eagle-eyed proofreading, to my father-in-law Bill O’Connor for insider information on Philadelphia in the 1960s, to Anna and Natalie Cal for their guidance on writing about music, Shannon Bodie for the wonderful cover design, and to my partner Chris and child Asa, in particular for Asa’s help in discovering Guillaume Rougeaux’s character, and in general for their ongoing support, skepticism, suggestions, trust and love.

Special thanks to Dr. Tracy Butts, Rebecca Alderson, Vanessa Winn, and Nadine Ijaz, for their invaluable insights and perspectives. Inexpressible thanks to Erika Lunder for making a place in the world for this book and guiding its creation in myriad ways, and to Neesa Sonoquie, my editorial Kung Fu master, who kicked my arse until the book arrived at its true self.

Of the many books and articles I read for this project I am especially indebted to the painstakingly researched and impeccably written Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire, by Andrea Stuart (Random House 2012); and the extremely informative The Road to Now, A History of Blacks in Montreal 1628 - 1986, by Dorothy Williams (Véhicule Press 1998).