Prudence (26 page)

Although this is entirely a work of fiction, I consulted many people and many books in the course of constructing it. Books that were particularly helpful were Anthony Beevor’s
The Second World War
and
D-Day: Battle for Normandy
. Also very helpful were Jack Myers’s
Shot at and Missed: Recollections of a World War II Bombardier
, Brian O’Neill’s
Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer
, and John Comer’s Co
mbat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions over Europe from the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner
. I have also quoted from the
B-17 Pilot’s Training Manual
, available at:

http://www.merkki.com/bombardiers_of_usaaf_in_world_wa.
htm.

I would like to thank the Lannan Foundation for its generous support. My time spent as a Lannan Resident in Marfa, Texas, saw this novel to completion. I would also like to thank Adam Eaglin and Becky Saletan. I am in debt to you both and couldn’t have done it without you.

I would also like to thank Gretchen Potter and my children, Elsina, Noka, and Bine, for enduring long absences and disappearing acts into the northern woods, the deserts of West Texas, and into those even more baffling interior landscapes where novels are born. My beautiful children—you gave me all the reason to venture out and even better reasons to venture back. Thank
you.

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