The Black Coats(87)

Thank you to: my agents, Jen Unter, who sold and championed The Black Coats, and to Ginger Clark, who now watches my back like a hawk. I’m grateful for you both.

Thank you to Kelley Pichel for her tenacious editing and honest advice.

A passionate embrace and confetti cannon should be aimed at the following individuals for their support and love: Cynthia McCulley, for taking on challenges like the fiercest among us; Tricia McCulley, for always modeling a strong woman and speaking loudly for those who have no voice; and Ron McCulley, whose architect’s soul inspired Mademoiselle Corday. Thanks for showing me 19,000 pictures of old Victorians.

Thanks also to Denise McCulley, Butch and Lynette Oakes, Cassandra and Maddie Splittgerber, Nicole London, Kimberly Stein, Elizabeth Wagner, Brianna Shrum, Mason Torall, Angela Turner, Karen Groves, Sarah Glover, Emily Doehling, Erin Armknecht, Patty Jones, and Katie Blumhorst. I’m grateful for your honesty and friendship, for believing in book after book, imaginary conversation by imaginary conversation. Creativity flourishes under the care of those who love the creator. Thanks for loving me.

The presidents in this book were inspired by the girls I lovingly call my coven: Katie Hall, Amanda Sanders, and Erin Burt (Kennedy, Nixon, and McKinley, respectively). Thanks for beta reading the first draft—your feedback helped sculpt this book into what it is. In addition, you three reminded me, at just the right time, of how beautiful and life-changing female friendships can be, something that is the core of this story. Also, let’s try not to get separated in a swamp again, okay?

Thank you to all the librarians, teachers, bookstores, book bloggers, bookstagrammars, writers, and readers who have raised their voices to help foster literacy. You are more important than you know. Keep reading, keep dreaming, keep writing.

Thanks to the city of Austin, which, in two days, won me over and claimed the city for this story as its own. I can’t wait to go back.

Thanks above all to Ryan and Maine, who remind me every day of how much I have been given. Thanks for all the hugs, picked garden flowers, and coffee runs. You give me something to fight for.





A Note from the Author


The Black Coats was the book that wrote itself. Born out of the still-burning ashes of a (failed) book, the story of a grieving teen and her quest to find peace through vengeance rose up like an angry demon, screaming for her story to be told.

It was both the easiest and the hardest book I have ever written.

The inspiration came from a handful of different places, each a thousand miles from each other.

A black peacoat lying abandoned on a road in Nebraska.

The unexpected loss of a young friend, whose death left our lives spinning.

My perpetual fascination with vigilante justice. (I would be Batman if I had the wealth and physical prowess. I am sadly lacking in both these areas.)

And finally, my growing anger at the mind-blowing statistics of violence against women and the ever-present question in my mind: Why wasn’t anyone talking about this?

I finished this book in the middle of 2016, long before the #Metoo movement had started, and long before we had a president who boasted of sexually assaulting women. Violence against women felt like a taboo topic, even though *so much* aggression was being hurled at women in their homes, in their workplaces, and out in the world. It was just all unspoken. Now, with my book in edits, I watched with amazement as the things I had written about became the national conversation. Women stepped out of the shadows and left us in awe. I write about heroines who conquer worlds and yet I have never seen such real-life bravery in the face of enormous consequences as these women exhibited.

I rejoice in the fact that these things are being discussed on a global scale, that women are finding more safe places to speak up. That as a group we can say, Enough. That we can say, Me too, but not anymore. We can say, We’re with you, you are not alone. We are all saying No more.

There is still so much work to do.

I hope The Black Coats encourages you to lend your voice to the fight. While Thea learns in the book that vigilante justice is itself morally gray, there are ways to fight for women that don’t involve shadowy organizations: Volunteer. Support charity organizations that help women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. And vote for those who would speak for them. Rise, women of vengeance.

Thank you for reading The Black Coats.

Colleen Oakes