Jacqueline Winspear: The Mapping of Love and Death

And as she closed her eyes, allowing the warmth of sunshine on glass to envelop her, she thought of Michael Clifton and how he yearned to return to his land, how he ached to rid himself of dark, cold days on the battlefields of France, so far from home. She realized that, in his letters over the years, in his teachings, and in the many pages she would read in the days, weeks, months, and years to come, Maurice would continue to be her guide as she negotiated new terrain. He would not be lost to her forever, and in his own way he had left her with a compass, octant, waywiser, and theodolite, the tools she would need to face a new horizon.

A cawing of rooks giving chase to a predatory kestrel caused Maisie to open her eyes. She smiled as a whole parliament of the black crows rose up from the trees and gave chase, and as she followed them, her attention was drawn to James Compton, making his way across the field towards the Groom's Cottage. She watched as he came through the gate at the end of the garden, where he stopped to talk to Frankie, who was tending his vegetables. Frankie turned and pointed to The Dower House, and they exchanged a few more words before James walked on, up the path towards the conservatory. He saw Maisie watching him and raised his hand. She waved in return.

Love, when, so, you're loved again.

To this day, the remains of those listed as missing in the Great War are being unearthed across France and Belgium. For David Bartlett-a former police superintendent in the United Kingdom and an expert on the battlefields-the task of identifying those remains, and ensuring the fallen are laid to rest with honor, has become his life's work. It was a letter sent by David to the Santa Barbara Independent in 2005, in a quest to identify the newly discovered remains of a young soldier-who might have been an American serving with a British regiment-that inspired this novel. The soldier now rests in peace at the Tyne Cot cemetery in Belgium. He has not been identified, and his headstone bears the inscription: A Soldier of the Great War Known Unto God .

Thanks must go to Holly Rose for once again being my trusted first reader-what would I do without your highlighter, Hol?

Maureen Murdock kindly allowed me to use the term "wound agape" from her wonderful book The Heroine's Journey . Thank you so much, Maureen.

For the term "artillery's astrologers," I must acknowledge Peter Chasseaud's definitive book on the subject of cartographers in the Great War, Artillery's Astrologers: A History of British Survey and Mapping on the Western Front, 1914-1918. The book represents extraordinary scholarship in a field crucial to understanding the war, and greatly increased my knowledge of the work of the cartography units.

The California Oil Museum, based in the original headquarters of the Union Oil Company in Santa Paula, California, proved to be a wonderful resource in my research into early exploitation of the state's black gold.

Deepest gratitude to my editor, Jennifer Barth at Harper Collins. Thank you, Jennifer, working with you is such a joy. You always manage to raise the bar while trusting the author's judgment-it's a gift.

To my agent, Amy Rennert-thank you, as always, Amy, for your sound counsel, your integrity, and your support. Most of all, thank you so much for these years of friendship.

And to John Morell-thanks for putting up with me, and those books and maps all over the floor.

JACQUELINE WINSPEARis the author of the New York Times bestsellers Among the Mad and An Incomplete Revenge, as well as four other Maisie Dobbs novels. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha, Alex, and Macavity awards for the first book in the series, Maisie Dobbs . Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.

www.jacquelinewinspear.com