massive, faux planet Earth, which delighted armchair space travelers. Patrons to the exhibit leaned back in easy chairs while “panoramas depicting the solar system rolled past.”
My grandmother was a talented seamstress and I loved watching her sew. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed bringing Varinka’s Mamka’s sewing career to life. Lanvin and the other great couture houses of Paris employed hundreds of Russian émigrés in their workshops and the Russian skill with a needle supported the worldwide fashion trend toward Russian dress. The kokoshnik, the traditional Russian beaded headdress, became a fashion phenomenon and bridal fashion so popular Queen Mary wore a kokoshnik-like diadem on her wedding day.
I enjoyed my time in Southampton, New York, researching that lovely place and time. Hildreth’s store, established in 1842, still stands on Main Street and remains a most charming, thriving home goods store, still owned by Hildreths after thirteen generations. I based my Pink and Green society women on the “Dreadnaughts” of Southampton, the supremely confident old guard elite who hosted the town’s social teas. They set the dress code, strictly enforced social conduct, and seemed bent on making society life uncomfortable.
The Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, Caroline’s home that was once called The Hay, was my own epicenter when it came to this story. From the archives there I have used Eliza’s and Caroline’s letters and other personal writing to bring this story to light; and the lovely old house has a character arc of its own. Following Henry Ferriday’s death, Eliza added interior plumbing and a service wing containing a kitchen and servants’ rooms; and the former schoolhouse was relocated to the orchard as a playhouse for Caroline. The Hay was a place Caroline, Eliza, and Henry Ferriday loved since the day they saw it, and Caroline and Eliza adored the gardens they created there. Even when in her beloved Paris, Caroline wrote “I realized that I had Bethlehem under my skin. In the midst of the delights of Paris, I would stop to wonder if the rose bugs were under control, or how the new regale lilies were doing.”
Today you can tour The Hay, now the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, all ninety-six acres bequeathed to Connecticut Landmarks by Caroline. The building where Merrill Brothers Store stood is now a restaurant on the village green and the boulder Eliza allowed moved from their property still stands on the green, an honor roll stone memorial to Civil War and World War I veterans.
For my next book I travel further back in time to the Civil War, to tell the story of Caroline’s great-grandmother Jane Eliza Newton Woolsey and her family, their fight against slavery, and their struggle to establish the first nursing services in America. The Woolsey women.
More staunchly fierce women I’ve already come to love.
For Katherine and Mary, bound by a silver thread
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to those who made writing Lost Roses such a pleasure: To my husband, Michael Kelly, who happily read every draft, shared my dream of continuing to tell Caroline Ferriday’s family story, and supports everything I do with unflagging enthusiasm and love. Excited to share “yon crescent moon” forever with you, old Cary Grant.
To my daughter Katherine, for her supreme wisdom and encouragement, and to my daughter Mary Elizabeth, for her expert editorial suggestions and cheerful support. I couldn’t have asked for a better model of the two loving sisters: Sofya and Luba.
To my son, Michael, for his manuscript advice, book trailer skills, and road-trip companionship.
To my son-in-law, Chase, for his sage advice and support.
To Kara Cesare at Ballantine Bantam Dell, the most caring, talented editor a person could wish for, generous in every way, who understood and embraced Eliza’s story with such care and empathy.
To all of “Team Roses” at Ballantine Bantam Dell for their seamless collaboration and boundless enthusiasm: Debbie Aroff, Barbara Bachman, Susan Corcoran, Melanie DeNardo, Jennifer Hershey, Kim Hovey, Paolo Pepe, Kara Welsh, and Gina Centrello, to name a few.
To my amazing agent, Alexandra Machinist, who once upon a time plucked me from the slush pile, insisted these stories needed to be told, and made it happen.
To the lovely Betty Kelly Sargent for her early encouragement and expertise, and who said, “All I need is a chapter.” Without her none of this would have come close to happening.
To my sister Polly Simpkins for her wisdom, generosity, unconditional love, and inspiration for the character of Eliza. And to my sister Sally Hatcher, who first taught me how loving sisters can be.
To Alexandra Shelley, independent editor extraordinaire, for