My grateful thanks to those who read this book in its first and second drafts and provided their comments and opinions: Dawn Cox, Joanna Daneman, Rebecca East, Melissa Galyon, Haley Elizabeth Garwood, Roberta Gellis, Nicole Jordan, Michael Kourtoulou, Alida Liberman, Annie Liberman, Cass Liberman, James Macdonald, Tamara Myers, Andre Norton, Laura Pilkington, Niloufer Reifler, Virginia Saunders, Dora Schisler, Bonnie Wenk Stallone, Ron and Jenny Stone.

Special thanks go to Nichole Argyres, for hand-holding and desserts above and beyond the call of duty; Matthew Balducci, for great marketing; Danny Baror, for making my books truly international; Susan M. S. Brown, for knowing what to do about semicolons and too many cloaks; Ellen Bushyhead, for truly insightful questions; David Cain, for the gorgeous family trees and map; Tanya Farrell, for great PR; Anna Ghosh, for being the absolutely perfect agent; Diane Higgins, for helping me see what my book was really about; Nicole Jordan, who lit hope and inspiration for me to use as a candle against a great darkness; Cheryl Kamm, for insightful comments; Shari Manfredi of Merriweather’s, for blending the Queen of Sheba’s perfume; Brenda Martell, for Lady Leeorenda’s support of the Dutchess County SPCA; Karen O. Miller of H&R Block, for handling a taxing task for me every year; Myra Morales, for the title; Debbie Oster-houdt and Lisa Wallace at Copy-A-Second on Main Street; Susan Polikoff,
for “timely” assistance; Cheryl Mamaril, for coordinating production, flawlessly; Susan Walsh, for superb interior design; Henry Yee, for his artistic touch.

Thanks are also due those who don’t know me but who provided much needed inspiration: Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Brian Blessed, Susan Hampshire, Cherie Lunghi, Keith Michell, Sam Neill, and Kate Winslet. My thanks as well to Kayhan Kalhor and Shujaat Husain Khan for
Moon Rise over the Silk Road.
And then there are those who have gone before us and will never know how much they inspired me: Anthony Hope, Margaret Irwin, Ava Gardner, and Stewart Granger.

My eternal gratitude belongs to my grandmother Mary Kravetz Wenk and to her son James Henry Wenk, my father, who taught me their own love of reading and of history, and whose beloved books keep me company now that they are no longer here; to my mother, Gloria Edghill Wenk, who gave her favorite books into my hands and has never demanded them back; and above all, to my sister Rosemary, without whose endless support, patience, and ability to make me think things through—not to mention her vital comment about the original Woodstock, her ability to tune out endless repeats of
Moon Rise over the Silk Road,
and her sapient observation about rubies—I could not have told Bilqis and Baalit’s story.

Anything you liked in
Wisdom’s Daughter
is due to them. Anything you didn’t like is entirely my fault.

BOOK: Wisdom's Daughter: A Novel of Solomon and Sheba

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