The poet Alice Anderson generously explained traumatic brain injury, and I have the utmost reverence for the stories she shared. Thank you, Alice, for your friendship and bravery, and for the line from your poem, “The Birds.”
My husband, Stewart Allison—who reminds me every time I complain that it’s impossible to finish a book, “You said this about the last book and it turned out just fine”—is my rock, my sunlight, and truly my better half. Forty years of marriage next month, and I’m still in love with him. To our son, Jack, who had an especially difficult year, things will get better, I promise. Just take a walk on the beach and think about whales. You can call me anytime.
To my niece Diana, I hope this book brings you peace and happiness. You are so loved.
How my mother, Mary, put up with me remains a great mystery I continually ponder. My siblings, whether they were telling me to lick a frozen pipe (that they promised tasted like cherry), hanging my dolls, or convincing me that tigers resided under my bed, have also been great supporters of my work.
I also send this story into the great beyond, to my mom’s best friend, Opal Burgraft, who passed away before I could give her the finished book. Bless your heart, Opal. I’ll cherish our chats. Please say hello to my dad for me. Rest in peace.
Without my writer friends, it would take me hundreds of boxes of Kleenex to finish a book. Caroline Leavitt, above all, just knowing you’re there on the East Coast is such a comfort. Everything you do for writers I find beyond generous. You’re absolutely the hardest-working writer I know. I treasure our discussions and our mutual addiction to Old Gringo cowboy boots, and I consider our friendship a great blessing in my life. Jodi Picoult, ditto the above. Other writers just as important to me include Anne Caston, Rich Chiappone, Nicky Leach, Wolf Schneider, Sherry Simpson, David Stevenson, Carolyn Turgeon, and Candelora Versace.
To Mary Wolf and Dorothy Massey, owners of Collected Works Bookstore, thank you for recommending my work to customers, for your lovely, kind hearts of steel, and for your perfect bookstore, with its fireplace, comfy couches, and wonderful books.
Finally, to all the readers of Blue Rodeo, I hope this story was worth the twenty-year wait. You haven’t seen the last of these characters, or of Glory, Joe, and their increasing tribe. They are as dear to me as all of you. And I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Thanks to everyone.
A Note on the Author
Jo-Ann Mapson is the author of eleven previous novels, including the beloved Finding Casey, Solomon’s Oak, Hank & Chloe, Blue Rodeo (also a CBS TV movie), and the Los Angeles Times bestsellers The Wilder Sisters and Bad Girl Creek. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and their four dogs. Visit her website at www.joannmapson.com.
By the Same Author
Finding Casey
Solomon’s Oak
The Owl & Moon Café
The Wilder Sisters
Loving Chloe
Shadow Ranch
Blue Rodeo
Hank & Chloe
Fault Line (stories)
The Bad Girl Creek trilogy:
Bad Girl Creek
Along Came Mary
Goodbye, Earl
Loved Owen’s Daughter? Check out Solomon’s Oak and Finding Casey, prequels that tell the story of how Glory, Joseph, and Juniper met and came to be a family, and of Juniper’s reunion with her sister Casey.
In Solomon’s Oak, Glory Solomon is struggling to come to terms with life on her farm after the sudden death of her husband. When two lost souls walk into her life—Juniper McGuire, a troubled, angry teenager from a broken family, and Joseph Vigil, a wounded ex-police officer—Glory is completely unprepared for the changes they will bring. Together, these three survivors find in each other an unexpected solace, the bond of friendship, and a second chance to see the miracles of everyday life.
“Dazzlingly written, indelibly moving, and deeply profound, Solomon’s Oak is filled with grace, heart, and wisdom, and a rich cast of real characters . . . Truly a gem.” —Caroline Leavitt
“Mapson [shows us] the world as we hope it is—a world in which flawed people can be basically healthy, and even pain has a richness to it . . . One of the most gifted writers of the contemporary [American] West.” —Los Angeles Times
“Mapson creates characters so real you could recognize them coming down the road.” —Chicago Tribune
In Finding Casey, Glory Vigil, newly married and unexpectedly pregnant at forty-one, and her husband Joseph have just moved to a new home in Santa Fe. Their adopted daughter, Juniper, takes a fieldwork course in a pueblo only a few hours away and finds herself right back in the past she thought she’d buried.
“Jo-Ann Mapson is one of my favorite authors—quite simply, she’s an archivist of the human heart.” —Jodi Picoult
“The opening pages drew me in and never let me go . . . Delicious.” —Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered
“Finding Casey is a beautiful, rugged journey into the depths of the heart.” —Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Virgin River novels
Copyright © 2014 by Jo-Ann Mapson
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make
available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including
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recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be
liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. For information,
write to Bloomsbury USA, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York, 10018.
Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
Bloomsbury is a trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Mapson, Jo-Ann.
Owen’s daughter : a novel / Jo-Ann Mapson. — First U.S. edition.
pages cm
e ISBN 978-1-62040-148-4
1. Fathers and daughters—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.A62O85 2014
813'.54—dc23
2014003627
First U.S. edition published in 2014
This electronic edition published in July 2014
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