As Clara has in the book, I have a history in a polygamous town, albeit admittedly a very brief one. Many years ago, as a magazine writer, I covered an adoption case involving a polygamous family. For that piece, I interviewed people who lived in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. Those towns lay in what’s known as the Short Creek area, and, as in the fictional Alber, many of the residents belonged to a fundamentalist Mormon sect that practiced polygamy.
I found my time there fascinating. High in the mountains, I saw huge houses where men had many wives, some dozens, and more than a hundred children. The people I talked to seemed very open about their unusual lifestyles. Some avowed a deep faith and expressed satisfaction with their lives. Others described a stifling culture where young women were married off to old men and teenage boys were driven away.
That experience never left me.
I’ve thought of it often, especially in the past decade when polygamous enclaves made international headlines. Their leaders were taken away, some imprisoned. Videos of the women in prairie dresses surrounded by scores of children became fodder for the nightly news. The Fallen Girls and the Clara Jefferies books to come are pure fiction. None of the characters are depictions of anyone I met during my time in the mountains. Alber is a fictional town not found on any map. None of these events are based on any events that actually took place. Yet the books are inspired by my travels to a world very different from my own.
In closing, I hope you loved The Fallen Girls. If you did, I would be very grateful if you would write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping readers discover my books.
I truly enjoy hearing from my readers—you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website, kc@kathryncasey.com.
Thank you again, and happy reading,
Kathryn
Acknowledgments
Based on my time in Colorado City and Hildale, I first want to thank all of the people I encountered during my days there. You told me your stories, and I appreciate your candor. My time with you enriched this book and those in the Clara Jefferies series to come.
Thank you to my dear friend author Gregg Olsen, who has been so kind to me for so many years. I cherish our friendship.
Thank yous to retired detective Tracy Shipley, Texas Ranger Lt. Wende Wakeman, and forensic pathologist Elizabeth Peacock MD for sharing their expertise.
Thank you Anne-Lise Spitzer, my agent, and her dad, Philip Spitzer, who was my very first literary agent.
A big thank you to all the wonderful people at Bookouture: my editor, Jennifer Hunt, who took such great interest in the book; Alexandra Holmes, Fraser Crichton, Jenny Page, Hannah Bond, Lucy Dauman and Jenny Geras.
Thank you to my husband and my entire family for their constant support. I love all of you. And to all our friends who drag me out of my office and keep me from slipping completely into my fictional world.
Finally, thank you to all of you who read my books. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love. A special thank you to all who recommend my books to others. You make a world of difference.
The Fallen Girls is the first book in the Clara Jefferies series. I’ve loved writing it, and I look forward to many books to follow.
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Storyfire Ltd., 2020
Written by Kathryn Casey
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-601-1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
