Photo of Cynthia 

I wrote the first three chapters of this book during a writing class in Amsterdam in October 2018 - Let The Story Begin - offered by two writers and sisters, Eva and Renee Kelder.

The class ended in November 2018. After the writing class, I put the project on hold because I needed to finish my novel, Vanished, which was published in July 2019.

After finishing Vanished, I took a short break until November 2019, when I decided to work on my next assignment, this book, Trauma.

Trauma is the result of many hours of research, gathering information about domestic violence-something I'll never understand-and about California wildfires, police procedures, and paramedics.

After gathering enough information, I outlined the story before putting all the pieces together in a fictional setting.

From November 2019 to the end of December 2019, I worked with my editor, Lee Ann, on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Then the pandemic happened: COVID-19. Everything stopped, including my writing.

I picked up where I'd left off in July 2020 and wrote until August 2020. Then the second wave of COVID-19 hit the world, with some countries suffering more than others.

Again, I took a short break until the end of October 2020, before finishing the book on Halloween.

During this time I enjoyed the intensive contact with my editor and beta readers, and I would like to thank them all, especially Lee Ann, for their hard work and suggestions.

Redrock, the Littlewood Orphanage, the Hill Hotel, Lynskey's Pawnshop in Boston, and the Pancake World restaurant are, of course, fictional.

Cynthia Fridsma