White Gardenia (53 page)

Following on from this, I would also like to say that while the inspiration for the novel came from the journey my mother and godmother made from China to Australia, all the characters and situations in the novel are works of my imagination. The book is not a family history in fictional form and none of the main characters are meant to represent any actual person living or deceased.

It was a great pleasure researching and writing
White Gardenia
. I hope that reading it has brought you much pleasure too.

It has often been said that a writer’s life is a solitary one, but it seems to me that the moment I put pen to paper (actually, fingers to keyboard) to write
White Gardenia
I was blessed with an incredible array of people willing to offer inspiration, information and support for the project.

To start out with, I would like to express gratitude to the two women who inspired me to write a novel about Russians in the first place: my mother, Deanna, and my godmother, Valentina. The tales of their lives in Harbin, Tsingtao, Shanghai and Tubabao captivated me as a child and enthralled me again as an adult. But it was more than the exotic locations that inspired the themes of the novel, it was their example of true friendship and love of life. Despite all the terrible things they have seen, the loved ones they have lost and the hardships they have endured, they have never lost their capacity to love, and to love fiercely. Their kindness and their sense of charity towards others is what makes them truly amazing. I would also like to convey my appreciation to my father, Stan, and brother, Paul, who believed that I could accomplish the task of researching and writing a novel with so much historical background, even before I had started!

I’m not sure if I can find the right words to say thank you to Selwa Anthony, who is such an enthusiastic, insightful and talented literary agent that some days I think I must have dreamed her up. Her faith in me is one of the most precious gifts I have ever received, and over the course of the novel’s development, I am proud to say that Selwa has been not only a terrific agent but a wonderful mentor and friend.

Further to my list of blessings, I have to add my publisher, Linda Funnell, and my editor, Julia Stiles. What first-time novelist wouldn’t be thrilled to find herself under the guidance of two of the most brilliant women in publishing? Their sensitivity, intelligence, care and sense of humour were tremendous gifts during the long and sometimes demanding process of rewriting and editing. I’d also like to thank Nicola O’Shea, senior editor at HarperCollins, whose organisational skills, diligence and passion for what she does made her a pleasure to work with. In fact, whenever I think about the collective talent, professionalism and enthusiasm of the HarperCollins team I can’t help but be amazed. In particular I would like to mention Brian Murray, Shona Martyn, Sylvia Marson, Karen-Maree Griffiths and Vanessa Hobbs.

I would also like to thank Fiona and Adam Workman. If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then Fiona and Adam are best friends of the highest clarity and the ideal cut, depth and carat weight. Not only were they terrific sounding boards whenever I felt stuck, nurturing my creativity back to the surface with their gourmet cooking and sense of joie de vivre, but they sent me a treasure chest of primary sources, including the wonderful Kay Campbell and
Theo Barker, who put together information for me on the Bathurst Migrant Camp and migrant camps in general while I was living in New York, and Joan Leyda and Peter Workman, who took time to share with me their lively and entertaining memories of Sydney in the 1950s. On the subject of Sydney in the 1950s, I would also like to thank legendary Australian fashion designer, Beril Jents; journalist and author, Kevin Perkins; Gary A Shiels and Aran Maree of North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club; and John Ryan of the Australian Jockey Club for the invaluable information they all shared with me.

Thank you also to my other sources of information for their enthusiasm and time in answering my questions: Levon and Janna Olobikyan for first-hand accounts of Moscow in the 1960s; Andrea Lammel for dance terms and German phrases; Doctor Ludmila Stern of the University of NSW and Svetlana Aristidi for checking my Russian terms and patronymic names; Jan Wigsten of Nomadic Journeys and Graham Taylor of Karakorum Expeditions for explaining to me the practicalities involved in crossing the Gobi Desert; and Vicky Robinson for her insight into Polish.

There is also a multitude of people I would like to thank for making the rough parts of this writer’s journey smooth and the joys even sweeter. Unfortunately, because of space I can’t list them all, but I would particularly like to mention:

Jody Lee, Kim Swivel, Maggie Hamilton, Professor Stephen Muecke, Bruce Fields, Jennifer Strong, Alain Mentha, Andrea Au, Brian Dennis, Shilene Noé, Jeffrey Arsenault, Kevin Lindenmuth, Tom Nondorf, Craig Smith, Phyllis Curott, Arabella Edge, Christopher Mack, Martin Klohs, Kai
Schweisfurth, Virginia Lonsdale, Olivia Rhee, and the members of Women in Publishing, New York. I would also like to thank my New York roommate, Heather Drucker, for not only generously giving me full use of her communications and word-processing equipment but for sharing the companionship of her two delightful cats. Sitting on my bed with my laptop, Sabine and Chaplin curled up and purring on either side of me, the snow piling up outside the window, created the perfect atmosphere for writing
White Gardenia
.

Thank you all!

Belinda Alexandra has been published to wide acclaim in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Norway and Greece. She is the daughter of a Russian mother and an Australian father and has been an intrepid traveller since her youth. Her love of other cultures and languages is matched by her passion for her home country, Australia, where she is a volunteer rescuer and carer for the NSW Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (WIRES).