Judith Merkle Riley (46 page)

As always, I am grateful for wonderful libraries, in particular, the libraries of the University of California system, the Huntington Library, and the Honnold Library of the Claremont Colleges. I owe special thanks to the librarians of the Interlibrary Loan Desk at the Honnold, who managed, among many other things, to get hold of the more exotic and obscure works of Nostradamus for me. I have also had the blessing of supportive friends and family; the Tea Ladies, Deborah and Susan; my husband, Parkes; my son, Marlow; and my daughter Elizabeth, who read the manuscript with her usual shrewd insight. I am deeply appreciative of the work of my editors, Pam Dorman and Susan Hans O’Connor. And to my agent, Jean Naggar, my awe and gratitude for her astonishing ability to remain serene and reassuring in the face of the manic ups and downs of the writing life.

Judith Merkle Riley (1942–2010) held a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, and she taught in the department of government at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. From 1988 to 2007, she wrote six historical novels:
The
Oracle
Glass
,
The
Master
of
All
Desires
,
A
Vision
of
Light
,
In
Pursuit
of
the
Green
Lion
,
The
Water
Devil
, and
The
Serpent
Garden
. Visit her website at
www.judith.com
.