“So they tell me, Mei Lin. So they tell me.”
Acknowledgments
THE RESOURCES FORCity of God were in many cases the same as those I used for the earlier three books about the Turner and Devrey families, City of Dreams, Shadowbrook, and City of Glory. They are many and varied, but Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace’s Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press, 1999) remains the lodestar of these stories, all except Shadowbrook being chiefly set in Manhattan.
For details of the evolution and brief reign of the sailing clippers I relied on The Clipper Ships by Addison Beecher Colvin Whipple (Time-Life Books, 1980) and The History of American Sailing Ships by Howard I. Chapelle (W. W. Norton, 1935). In the matter of the arrival of the Catholic sisterhoods in the United States in general and in New York City in particular, I was much aided by Religious Orders of Women in the United States by Elinor Tong Dehey (W. B. Conkey Co., 1913). I also consulted History of the New York Times 1851–1921 by Elmer Davis (New York Times, 1921) for information about that paper and its competitors. Both the latter books are long out of print and not in my own library. Without Google’s digitalization project it would have been, while not impossible, a matter of much time and trouble to obtain them. As it was, I simply clicked my mouse a few times, then pressed Print. I mention this here in the light of the intense controversy surrounding the larger issue of Google’s efforts. At least in the matter of out-of-print and out-of-copyright books, it’s hard to imagine something more beneficial to readers and writers.
Ditto Wikipedia, which was enormously useful, particularly for information about Chinese deities and dates. Onward the Internet! Life and books would be impoverished without it.
I am yet again grateful for the kindness of friends and colleagues without whom this book would be less than it is. Some deserve special mention: The super-talented Shymala Dason and her charming husband Joe McMahon reminded me of the wonderful Hopkins poem “Pied Beauty” just as I was trying to get my mind around how to frame the religious issues that so much inform this story. Tom Kirkwood’s timely assistance saved me from having egg on my face with regard to the two words of German used herein. Janie Chang once again patiently answered my questions about transliterated Mandarin (but whatever I have mangled in my attempts to render the voices of the Chinese characters in this story is entirely my fault and in no way hers). And once more I have chosen to use Wade-Giles romanization because the Pinyin system had not been invented at the time of the story. Henry Morrison as usual proved himself first reader nonpareil and literary agent without peer. He was, I hope, amused to meet an earlier doppelgänger in these pages. Danny Baror, who sells my foreign and translation rights, continues to make it possible for my stories to reach beyond my nationality and my language—sometimes very far indeed—and I am grateful. Sydny Miner’s rare ability to wield the editorial pencil with both sensitivity and intelligence once more earns my deepest appreciation. Thanks too to the many others at Simon & Schuster whose commitment to this series continues to stand it in such good stead, particularly Michelle Rorke, Michael Accordino, Loretta Denner, and Tina Peckham.
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