David Wroblewski - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Essay stepped into the grass. She stood, paw lifted to her chest, nose raised to scent the air, watching it all. For an instant, as the morning light brightened, everything in the field stood motionless. She looked behind her one last time, into the forest and along the way they’d come, and when she was sure all of them were together now and no others would appear, she turned and made her choice and began to cross.

This book has been a long time in the writing and consequently I owe thanks to a great many people. Eleanor Jackson, my literary agent, has been an unstinting champion, adviser, and friend; she is an idealist of the savviest kind. Lee Boudreaux, my editor at Ecco, worked like a dynamo to improve this book, challenging every line, every word, every preconception, yet somehow making me laugh in the process. The result is infinitely better for her efforts and she has my deepest gratitude. Abigail Holstein, also at Ecco, saw the manuscript through many travails and offered advice both timely and wise.

I am indebted to my teachers in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers-Ehud Havazelet, Joan Silber, Margot Livesey, Richard Russo, and Wilton Barnhardt, as well as the rest of that remarkable faculty-for the confluence of ideas and talent they bring to Swannanoa each January and July. Richard Russo has been especially generous with his time and consideration. Thanks to Robert Boswell for a pivotal workshop in Aspen and the gracious advice that followed. Thanks also to Robert McBrearty, teaching at the University of Colorado and in ongoing workshops and innumerable lunches, for indispensable advice on writing and life. Finally, thanks to the Vermont Studio Center for a writing fellowship during which sections of Part Three were written.

The following people read drafts of this book and offered in return the great gift of their insight: Barbara Bohen, Carol Engelhardt, Charlene Finn, Nickole Ingram, Karen Lehmann, Cherie McCandless, Tim McCandless, Brad Reeves, Nancy Sullivan, Audrey Vernick, and Karen Wolfe. They pointed out, compassionately, each draft’s weaknesses, which helped make this book better, and its strengths, which gave me hope. No writer could ask for a finer advisory council.

Factual information was provided to me by Maura Quinn-Jones at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, Wisconsin, on the basics of speech pathology; Peter Knox at the University of Colorado, on Latin; Jim Barnett, on Japanese; Rob Oberbreckling, on the nature of structure fires; Roger Sopher and Dr. William Burton, on the properties of ether; and Lisa Sabichi, DVM, who endured what are surely some of the strangest questions ever put to a veterinarian. I am grateful for her patient responses, as well as the extraordinary care she has given to two dogs I’ve been privileged to know. To suit my own purposes, I’ve twisted every fact these people supplied me; the resulting errors and inaccuracies are my fault alone.

There exists a wealth of literature on canine biology, cognition, and training methods. A list of sources consulted would be far too long for these notes, and inevitably incomplete, but anyone interested in the fictionalized training techniques employed by the Sawtelles might well begin with the essay “How to Say ‘Fetch!’” by Vicki Hearne and work outward from there. I have also read, with great pleasure, A Journey into Mellen, a century’s worth of Mellen newpaper articles, condensed and compiled by a committee of volunteers and edited by Joe Barabe. Last of all, from the two real authors of Working Dogs, Elliot Humphrey and Lucien Warner, I ask belated forgiveness for inventing a coauthor; John Sawtelle needed a friend who understood his project and from whom he could learn the lessons of the Fortunate Fields work.

Above all, this book owes its existence to Kimberly McClintock, an extraordinary artist, a loving and generous partner, my most ferocious advocate, my first, last, and most exacting reader. Her encouragement and wisdom suffuse every page of this book.

DAVID WROBLEWSKI grew up in rural Wisconsin, not far from the Chequamegon National Forest where The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is set. He earned his master’s degree from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and now lives in Colorado with his partner, the writer Kimberly McClintock, and their dog, Lola. This is his first novel.