Lara's Gift (18 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 

There are many people I want to thank for opening gilded doors along my path of discovering borzoi, the craft of writing, Russia, and the world beyond. Hanne Burns and Alice Clemente, my childhood neighbors, fed my curiosity about the world and instilled in me an early desire to travel to new places. I give my biggest teddy bear hug to the late Igor Zelljadt, for teaching me Russian at Smith College.

I owe Suzanne Stafford, one of the first American women to do business in the former USSR, a
bolshoe spasibo
for connecting me to my first job in Russia. Without Suzanne, I never would have met Igor Belov, Sergei Bugnui, Misha Petriga, Sergei Golubaev, or Yuri Nivitski. Together they helped me find my first authentic Russian borzoi pup, Dasha. Without them, this book
would not exist, for the struggles we overcame inspired this story.

Bonnie Dalzell, owner of Silkenswift Borzoi Kennel and an AKC borzoi judge, fed further inspiration when she gifted me a book,
Observations on Borzoi
by Joseph B. Thomas, about his early 1900s travels to Russia in search of the perfect borzoi. When I saw photos of the Woronzova borzoi, it launched a thousand questions and wonderings. Thank you, Bonnie, for teaching me so much about borzoi.

When I began my writing career, I was fortunate to get excellent advice from Patricia MacLachlan, another childhood neighbor and the author of
Sarah, Plain and Tall
, a Newbery Medal winner. She was the first to suggest that I join SCBWI and get an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. At VCFA I found my home away from home and worked with faculty advisors Uma Krishnaswami, Jane Kurtz, Marion Dane Bauer, and Cynthia Leitich Smith, as well as workshop leaders Rita Garcia-Williams, Shelley Tanaka, Sharon Darrow, Julie Larios, David Gifaldi, and Margaret Bechard. To all of you I give my warmest embrace. Hugs also go to the Cliff-hangers, the Revisionistas, and the Super Secret Society of Quirk and Quill for welcoming me into each of their classes.

I also got full-novel critiques of this story from Carolyn
Coman, M. T. Anderson, Nina Lindsay, and Deborah Halverson, who offered invaluable insight and asked just the right questions to help me through some trouble spots.

Another
bolshoe spasibo
goes to my writing group, Beyond the Margins: Ann Jacobus, Frances Lee Hall, Linden McNeilly, Christine Dowd, and Helen Pyne. They saw several drafts of
Lara’s Gift
and shared constructive guidance that helped me shape this story. Other writing friends who deserve thanks include Jessica Powers, Emily Jiang, Mary Colgan, Abigail Samoun, Caroline Goodwin, and Caitlyn Berry. But it’s Amanda Materne who deserves the tightest embrace and biggest box of chocolate for giving me spot-on critiques along my journey of writing
Lara’s Gift
.

I also thank SCBWI founders Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser, as well as those behind the scenes at SCBWI, for creating a community of such supportive people and the kind of resources that help new authors launch their writing careers. Through SCBWI I have made countless friends—Meg O’Hair, Connie Goldsmith, and Patti Newman, to name a few—and received constructive feedback along the way from professionals like Kendra Markus, Minju Chang, Anne Hoppe, and many others.

There aren’t enough boxes of chocolate in the world to appropriately thank my friends and family who have never wavered in their support of me: the late Blair
Torrey, his parents, Jay and the late Dana Torrey, and family; Kathy Morrissey; Amy Myer; Waltraud and the late Walter Grupp; Cornelia Pankau and her family; Diana Grupp; Jacqueline Curzon; Angelia Barnes; Cameron Rinker and his family; Santosh and Kirsten Soren; Chris Allen; Sheila Driscoll Fleck; Amy O’Neil; Ann Young Zarider; Antonio Cavaliere; Willo Carey; Beverly Hagerdon Thakur and her lovely husband, Duni; Natalia and John Alsup; Alice Temple; Mary Johnston; Christina and Marshall Whitley and their children; Shawn Stout; Elyse Evans; Andrea Calderon Thomas; Christiane dos Santos; Paul Morrissey; and my sisters, Cathy Christensen and Nan Skeffington, and their families.

I thank my brother, Ted O’Brien, for timely acupuncture treatments and his belief in me; Jonathan Kalmakoff for help with my research of Russian names; Andrey Kneller for sharing his love of Pushkin; Betsy Hulick for her wonderful translation of “Count Nulin,” Pushkin’s poem that starts with a borzoi wolf hunt; Jess Edberg, from the International Wolf Center, for her knowledge of wolves; Roman Kozakand and Irina Petrova for their expertise on Russian traditional costumes; Tricia and Harry Joiner for their expertise on Palekh icons and art; and to
all
of my students, from whom I continue to grow as a writer.

For entrusting me with my borzoi Zola, I thank Sarah
Fry, as well as Garnett Thompson of Sunburst Kennel and Charlotte Ansbro Wheeler of the v’Indra Kennel. Zola is the sweetest and most vocal borzoi I have ever met. I thank Irene Carroll for entrusting me with Zar. He is every bit as loyal as the fictional Zar and the best dog I have ever had.

I thank Gabrielle Slater of Russkaya Borzoi in the United Kingdom for putting me in touch with Anna Mihalskaya, Russian borzoi expert, literature professor, and author of
The Breed
, who carefully read
Lara’s Gift
for Russian language, borzoi facts, and historical accuracy. Her comments were immensely helpful.

I also extend endless thanks to Professor Alexander Woronzoff-Dashkoff for living up to his family’s motto of steadfast loyalty, inscribed on the Vorontsov coat of arms, by honoring my story with the lovely afterword, and to his wife, Katia, who believed in
Lara’s Gift
.

Chong rahmat
to Talant Begaliev for encouraging me to take risks.

Rocky Ho deserves a big
mahalo
for selflessly being my rock.

I thank Sally and her husband, Ollie Seymour, contractor extraordinaire, for renovating my writing cottage, which sits in my garden among tall roses and offers me a peaceful and comfortable place to sink into Lara’s world.

Special thanks go to the Greenhouse Literary Agency
and Sarah Davies, my lovely agent, for taking me on. Her style, work ethic, and knowledge of the industry are unparalleled.

Nancy Sondel gets boundless hugs for acting on my wish to invite Erin Clarke, editor at Knopf, to her YA Novel Workshop at PCCWW, where Erin first met Lara and Zar.

It is a dream come true that my book will carry the Knopf colophon of a borzoi along its spine and initial pages. It took the efforts of many people at Random House to bring my story to you. I thank Stephanie Moss for her lovely vision of the cover for
Lara’s Gift
and Tim Jessell for his priceless execution. I’d also like to recognize and thank Ronnie Ambrose, Artie Bennett, Judy Kiviat, Karen Mugler, and Alison Kolani, the team of Random House copy editors who carefully pored over the pages of
Lara’s Gift
with a keen borzoi eye, made many astute comments, and taught me a few good grammar lessons.

But it is Erin Clarke, my dream editor, whom I thank most of all, for taking
Lara’s Gift
under her wing and giving it flight. She carefully read my manuscript and gave me clear direction to strengthen my story, leading me through the revision process with her spot-on advice, much like the pealing of bells guiding me home through a Russian blizzard.

An
ochen bolshoe spasibo
goes to the O’Brien and Mitchell families for being the best cast of characters a
girl could ever want and need. There are far too many of you to name, but you know who you are! Thanks go to Richard for giving me an impenetrable coat of armor. Big, meaty bones go to the real Zola and Zar, who were often at my feet as I wrote. Most of all, I thank my parents for believing in me, and my children, Aubrey and Anjuli, for their patience when I needed to write and for the excitement they shared with me when they learned that
Lara’s Gift
would be published by Knopf.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 

Annemarie O’Brien has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She teaches courses in writing for children at UC Berkeley and Stanford and edits children’s books for Room to Read, an organization that advocates literacy in developing countries. Annemarie spent many years living and working in Russia, where the inspiration for
Lara’s Gift
, her debut novel, developed. She now lives in Northern California with her family; two borzoi dogs, Zola and Zar; and a silken windhound named Zeus.

For more information about the author, please go to
annemarie​obrienauthor.​com
.