No exact undisputed tally exists, but credible estimates say that the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, cost the lives of more than 4,400 Allied soldiers. The United States Cemetery and Memorial at Omaha Beach, final resting place for American war dead from the overall Normandy campaign, holds 9,387 graves.
Those battles also took the lives of an estimated fifty thousand French men and women.
Many excellent books and films explore this heroism, and I was most inspired by D-Day by Stephen E. Ambrose; D-Day Through French Eyes by Mary Louise Roberts; and D-Day Normandy (a photographic essay on the invasion) by Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon, and J. Michael Wenger.
My friend Marcia DeSanctis, author of 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go (which is infinitely more than a travel book), insisted that I hire Claire Lesourd as a guide in Normandy. It proved to be an excellent suggestion. Claire turned out to be a walking encyclopedia, bringing me to the villages, beaches, and battlefields where history was made. I am grateful for her knowledge, patience, and help. Kenneth Rendell’s unique Museum of World War II, outside of Boston, contained thousands of artifacts that made the war experience tangible—from Hitler’s uniform to the grappling hook used in the climbing assault on Pointe de Hoc. My sister Casey Kiernan made me aware of that museum as well as the HBO program Band of Brothers. My interview with Ron Hadley, landing-craft commander and veteran of Omaha Beach, was about as humbling a conversation as I’ve ever had.
That interview took place thanks to an introduction by my friend Chris Bohjalian, who continues to help and guide my work with incredible generosity. I am lucky and proud to know him.
The other person who supported this book—from first draft to last, with patience, humor, and wine—is the inimitable Kate Seaver. I am in her debt in many, many ways. Early drafts also benefitted from the wise, clever, and challenging responses of Geoff Gevalt, John Killacky, and Hawk Ostby. I also appreciate the kind help of Peter Heller and Mary Morris, whose works of fiction far surpass mine.
I am especially grateful to the people who brought this novel into being: my trusted agent and friend Ellen Levine, the best ally I can imagine; and my editor and friend Jennifer Brehl, who improved this book from first sentence to last. Thanks too to Mumtaz Mustafa and Leah Carlson-Stanisic, for designing a beautiful book.
If there seem to be a lot of names here, it is because so many people helped me bring this idea from imagination to reality. I could not have done it without them.