Acknowledgments

• Author: Constance Backhouse
• Pages: 9-11

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have theirown idiosyncratic preferencesfors eing

I prefer to write while looking through a wi ndow. I roll my computer right

uptothe bestwindowI canndand roottheresurrou ndedbyboxesand

books This book has been w rien in front of many wonderful windows

Itbegan inPerthWestern Australiain fromalibrary windowin an

artistscoagethat lookedoutonoweringhedgessurroundedby raucous

birdsIt movedin toaw indowinOawa whichlookedonto anup

per wooden balcony with squirrels, crows, and pine cones, facing south

overthebeautifulR ideauRiverIttookavemonthsojourn inMontréalin

where itlookedoutfroma garretabovea threesto riedmetalst airrail

ingFortherst fewmonthslayersoffrostand iceimpededallviewWith

spring, the window magically opened to the bu stle of St. Urbain St reet in the

ethnicmosaicofthePlateaubelowInthewritingprojectmovedforsix

months to the medieval town of Lunel in the south of France. There I looked

downfromthecentur iesoldstonebalconyofaformerécurie, onto a private

courtyardw ithtoweringlaureland bambootreesMy gazewouldwander

to the fountain with a gargoyle frequented by white doves. Each window has

added its distinctive cachet to the migrating m ixture that became this book.

Many people have also contributed enormously to this book. First and

foremost, the creative and brilliant researc h assistants whose work has

helped to unearth much of the detail sur rounding these cases: Monda Halp

ernKristenClarkPascalHugoPlourdeMarieJoséeBlaisIsabelleLeBreux

AlkaTandenBelindaPeresRosemaryMorrisseeRozykRaquelChisholm

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