Northern Spy(71)

“What?” he says.

“Oh, everything.”

We can see the castle from here, on the clifftop, facing toward Scotland across the sea. The castle used to light a bonfire to signal for help when it was under siege, and I want the equivalent. I want the castles all along this coast lighting bonfires, to signal that we are, finally, at peace.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Thank you to Lindsey Schwoeri, my editor, for your instincts and your vision, and your unfailing grace and good humor. Thank you to Emily Forland, my agent, for your generosity and wisdom. I’m so grateful to both of you.

Thank you, in Northern Ireland, to Mairia Cahill, Mark Devenport, Allison Morris, and Aisling Strong.

Thank you to Jane Cavolina, Sarah Delozier, Molly Fessenden, Allie Merola, Kate Stark, Mary Stone, Lindsay Prevette, Jennifer Tait, Colin Webber, Amanda Dewey, Patrick Nolan, Andrea Schulz, Brian Tart, and all at Viking and Penguin.

Thank you to Federico Andornino and all at Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Thank you to Michelle Weiner at CAA.

Thank you to the Michener Center for Writers.

Thank you to Jackie Brogadir, Nick Cherneff, Tina Cherneff, Kate DeOssie, Donna Erlich, Nicole Fuerst, Allison Glaser, Lynn Horowitz, Allison Kantor, Suchi Mathur, Justine McGowan, Madelyn Morris, Althea Webber, and Marisa Woocher, for your friendship.

Thank you to my family, especially my parents, Jon Berry and Robin Dellabough.

And thank you to Jeff Bruemmer and Ronan and Declan, with all my love.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Flynn Berry is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and the recipient of a Yaddo fellowship. Her first novel, Under the Harrow, won the 2017 Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and The Atlantic. Her second novel, A Double Life, was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.