I also owe thanks to Bill Conti, to Al Kohn of Warner Bros. Records, and to Mrs. Auriel Sanderson, vice president of the David L. Wolper Organization.
As always, people and institutions lending a hand with preparation of the book must not be held responsible for it in any way; not for a single incident or opinion or anything else. I bear full responsibility.
Since Heaven and Hell closes a trilogy undertaken with a brief description and a great deal of faith, I would be remiss if I did not tender my thanks to Bill and Peter Jovanovich and all of the good people I have gotten to know during the course of the project. I think especially of Rubin Pfeffer; Willa Perlman; my magnificent editor, Julian Muller; and his efficient and cheerful right hand, Joan Judge.
Through HBJ I was first introduced to Paul Bacon, whose powerful jackets have lent strength to the books in the trilogy, and to thousands of others as well. Paul stands at the top of his profession, and because of his work on North and South and its sequels, we have become friends as well as collaborators on a children's book of our own. That kind of good luck is one of the joyous side benefits of publishing.
Frank R. Curtis, Esq., my able attorney and friend, remains a source of strength and wise counsel. In England, my agent, June Hall, and Ian and Marjory Chapman of Collins Publishers have been steadfast in their interest and encouragement.
Some books are easy to write, some are not. This was one of the latter, because of circumstances that had nothing to do with writing. In the midst of work on the first draft I lost my mother-in-law, Nina, to a cruel disease. She was a lovely, courageous woman, small in size but great in wisdom and spirit. She was born and lived most of her life in a conservative Illinois farm town. There she not only raised a strong family but publicly supported black's and women's rights long before either cause was fashionable. She stood by me at all times, and especially at a difficult time a few years ago when many others did not. I loved her with all my heart, and her death in October of 1986 was a grievous loss for all of us who cared for her. Against that event, both impending and actual, Heaven and Hell was written.
Another blow fell while the final draft was coming out of the computer. Last Friday my own mother died. It was a different sort of death, because she had been hospitalized for three years, and unaware of her surroundings for more than a third of that time. She was ninety-one, but that makes the loss no gentler.
Finally, without my wife Rachel there would be nothing, and certainly not this work. I acknowledge my debt of love; I can never repay it.
John Jakes
Greenwich, Connecticut and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina August 7, 1986-March 30, 1987