culture and customs of New London. Tesla, while he isn’t a main character here, is definitely so fascinating that I couldn’t help at least making him responsible for everything. Not to mention the City of London itself. I’m indebted to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) for making possible a trip to London as part of their Work-in-Progress grant. My visit to the British Natural History Museum was foundational for this and other books.
There are also many authors who inspired this book. I would be remiss not to mention Peter Beagle’s
I’m certain people will assume that the Tinkers are lifted from Rom or Gypsy culture. While perhaps there is a little of the Gypsy in the Tinkers, the true progenitors of the Tinkers are the Baima people of the Sichuan highlands in the People’s Republic of China.
The Baima, or Duobo as they call themselves, are a Tibetan ethnic minority who live on the very edge of the Tibetan plateau. I spent a summer with the Baima and other Sichuanese while living with my husband at Tangjiahe Nature Reserve. I will never forget the kindness the Baima showed us when we visited their village. I was most distressed (though not surprised) to discover that the simple beauty of their culture was disintegrating under the weight of modern progress; only one ancient shaman still knows how to read their religious language and no one else is interested in learning. Their young people are fading away to the big cities in hopes of work.
In my own small and perhaps strange way, I hope at least to preserve some of their beauty in the pages of this book. While my Tinkers speak Chinese as their sacred language, it’s only because I was never fortunate enough to learn the Baima language or alphabet.
They gave me a song that summer about the green hills of their homeland because I was missing my own. This is the song I give back to them.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is a testament to persistence—mine and the many people who’ve shared the journey with me. My agent, Jenn Laughran, persevered tirelessly to make sure my equally tireless editor, Navah Wolfe, found this book the one she couldn’t live without. It was a long journey, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stumble here and there along the way. I also very much appreciate the dedicated staff of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers: production editor, Katrina Groover; production manager, Michelle Kratz; and the wonderfully talented designer, Chloë Foglia.
Though this book is dedicated to Tricia Scott, I also can’t thank her enough for her abiding enthusiasm and support, sometimes given literally from what we all were sure was her own deathbed. I’m so proud of her for conquering breast cancer and so grateful every day she is still with us. If this story belongs to anyone, it’s hers.
I must also thank other writers for their support, good humor, and friendship—Stephanie Burgis, Ying Lee, Lisa Mantchev, Gwenda Bond, Mark Henry, Richelle Mead, Caitlin Kittredge, Cherie Priest, Kat Richardson, Stacia Kane, and Nicole Peeler, to name quite a few! Early drafts were read by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater, and Natalie Parker—I appreciate their excellent comments and suggestions. Thanks to J. Kathleen Cheney for the epigraph. I’m very grateful also to Jeff Mann, Kelly Fineman, Cheryl Ruggiero, and Sue Hagedorn for some damn fine poems and meals, to boot. Big hugs to Synde Korman for the beautiful and inspiring jewelry based on scenes from the novel. Thanks to my dear local friends—you know who you are. And of course for all years of unfailing love, belief, and devotion, endless thanks to my Jewel.
TIFFANY TRENT writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She is the author of the Hallowmere series and also the recipient of a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Work-in-Progress Grant. Her short stories have appeared in
