William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s The Secret Life of Houdini and Frederick Lewis Allen’s Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s also helped in my research, as did many of Houdini’s own writings about his magic. Houdini historian John Cox’s blog, Wild About Harry, provided a wealth of resources. For my descriptions of Atlantic City, I relied heavily on the recollections of my father, whose family lived and worked there for generations. Still, I was surprised by how little information about Bess’s personal life exists. Many accounts of the Houdinis’ lives are conflicting, and most sources primarily address Harry’s identity as a magician, not as a husband. Given Bess’s limited footprint, I was shocked when I purchased a battered secondhand copy of Kellock’s book for ten dollars, only to find, opening the book days later, Bess Houdini’s signature inside the cover. If there ever was a sign that perhaps her story should be told, I believe that was it.
While I have used research to capture the voices of the characters and the period details in the novel, the intimacies of the Houdinis’ relationship are born mainly from my imagination. I can only hope the work lives up to the legacy they left behind.
Acknowledgments
I am tremendously grateful to my agent, Trena Keating, who believed in me long before there was even a book to believe in, and who possesses the uncanny ability to be right about pretty much everything; and to Sarah Cantin, my editor, who is the kind of editor writers talk about, wistfully, as “surely existing somewhere out there.” Thank you to Judith Curr and the entire team at Atria, without whom this dream of mine would never have come true.
I am also indebted to these many friends and mentors for their support of my writing and for extraordinary kindnesses done over the years: Dick Allen; Todd Boss and the Motionpoems team; Kevin Brockmeier; Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horwitz; Connie Brothers, Deb West, Jan Zenisek, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop staff; Ethan Canin; Edward Carey; Sam Chang; Leo Damrosch; Gerald Dawe, Deirdre Madden, Lilian Foley, Jonathan Williams, the late E. A. Markham, and the Trinity College Dublin Creative Writing Program; Noah Dorsey; Jennifer duBois; Jehanne Dubrow; Denise Duhamel; Jose Falconi; Jerry Hendrix; Luisa Igloria; Joan Jakobson; Michael Khandelwal, Lisa Hartz, and the Muse Writers Center; David Lehman; Erin McKnight, and Queen’s Ferry Press; Jim McPherson; Keija Parssinen; Marilynne Robinson; Tim Seibles; Michael Shinagel; Michael Simms, Guiliana Certo, and Autumn House Press; John Stauffer; Tony Swofford; Gary Thompson and the Naval Institute Press; everyone at Union Literary; Trina Vargo, Mary Lou Hartman, and the U.S.-Ireland Alliance; Katherine Vaz. Thanks also to Gavitt, Kate, Kelly, Laura, Liz, Lizz, Lyndsey, Mallory, Stacey, Eric, Jessica, Lea, Rob, Austin, Josh, Loren, Jason, Alyssa, Dee, Erin, and Isaac, for over a decade of friendship; and to the many cherished friends of the Navy, Virginia Beach, and Galilee I’ve made over the past several years.
Thank you, especially, to my family—Dad, Mom, Christine, Eric, Laura, Marie, Jim, Chris, Jay, Carolyn, Hank, Josie, Arleen, and Farrell. And to Will, for his love and for our daughters, the greatest gifts of all; if there is magic, surely it’s in them.