The Scottish Prisoner - Diana Gabaldon [197]
more general parlance, it means one has the freedom to do
anything in a given situation, as no rules apply.
Sixième—Sixth
Septième—Seventh
To those selfless champions of a beautiful and beloved language who have so kindly helped me with Gaelic translations through the years:
Iain MacKinnon Taylor (and members of his family)
(Gaelic/Gàidhlig): Voyager, Drums of Autumn,
The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Catherine MacGregor and Catherine-Ann MacPhee
(Gaelic/Gàidhlig): An Echo in the Bone,
The Exile, and The Scottish Prisoner
Kevin Dooley (Irish/Gaeilge): The Scottish Prisoner
Moran Taing!
Acknowledgments
To Jennifer Hershey and Bill Massey, my editors, who have so gracefully and skillfully handled the business of editing a book simultaneously from two different countries, companies, and points of view …
To the delightful copy editor Kathy Lord, who knows how many esses there are in “nonplussed,” and who repeatedly saves my bacon by knowing how old everybody is and how far it is from Point A to Point B, geography and chronology not being my strong points at all, at all …
Jessica Waters, editorial assistant, adept at juggling several huge wads of manuscript, requests for interviews, and miscellaneous snippets of this and that simultaneously …
Virginia Norey (aka “the Book Goddess”), who designed the elegant volume you hold …
Vincent La Scala, Maggie Hart, and the many, many hardworking and endlessly tolerant people in the production department at Random House …
Catherine-Ann MacPhee, that glowing daughter of Barra, actress, TV presenter, traditional singer, teacher, and recording artist—whose wonderful Gaelic recordings can be found at www.Greentrax.com—and who provided the marvelously nuanced translations of Scottish Gaelic for this book …
Kevin Dooley, fluent speaker of Irish, musician, storyteller, and author (see www.kevindooleyauthor.blogspot.com), for his lovely and thoughtful translations of the Irish Gaelic. Any loss of fadas (the little accent marks scattered over written Irish like ground black pepper) is the fault either of me or the unavoidable friction involved in typesetting, and we apologize if we inadvertently lost any, either way …
Catherine MacGregor (aka “Amazingly Perceptive and Generous Reader”), both for assistance in procuring and recording the Gaelic translations, helpful commentary on the manuscript, and for Eyeball-Numbing Nitpickery …
Barbara Schnell and Sarah Meral, for the German bits …
Laura Bailey, for helpful information on gaiters and other items of eighteenth-century costume …
Allene Edwards, for Advanced Typo-spotting and Nitpickery …
Claudia Howard, Recorded Books producer, for her open-mindedness and courtesy while going about the tricky business of getting the audiobook of The Scottish Prisoner on sale simultaneously with the print version …
Malcolm Edwards and Orion Publishing, for their faith in and stout support of this book …
My husband, Doug Watkins, for helpful information on horses, mules, harness, and small boys …
Karen Henry, Czarina of Traffic and Aedile Curule of the Diana Gabaldon folder (in the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum), without whom I would have a lot more distraction and fewer words on paper, both for herding the bumblebees and for her detailed and helpful manuscript comments …
Susan Butler, for invaluable logistical assistance, household and dog management, and encyclopedic knowledge on how to ship things most expeditiously from Point A to Point B …
Jeremy Tolbert, Nikki Rowe, Michelle Moore, Loretta McKibben, and Janice Millford, for Web-based constructions and management … I can’t clone myself, but they’re the next best thing …
Lara, Suellen, Jari Backman, Wayne Sowry, and the dozens of other lovely people who’ve given me useful details and suggestions, or have remembered things for me that I had forgotten, but needed …
Vicki Pack and The Society for the Appreciation of the English Awesomesauce (Lord John’s fan club), for moral support and a great T-shirt …
Elenna Loughlin, for the lovely author photo