This story has been waiting a long time to be told. Norah's Children is a novel which has at its heart, a truth. There was a Norah, though I'm not sure that she even spelled her name that way. Norah did have five children and five different families ultimately took in those children. What those families were like, or how those children were actually reared, I do not know. I heard whispers long ago and, like the fine silk of a spider's web, they clung to me. I finally gathered those fragile threads and wove them within a story of "how it might have been."

If there are villains and victims in the story, it is because every story must have its villains and victims. If there is a hero or heroine, it is because every story should have at least one. The characters, as they are depicted in my story, are conjured from my imagination. No offense or hurt to the memory of any real person is intended.

The original children are all gone. I don't believe they spoke much about their separate lives. In writing this book I want to honor them, and the trauma and sadness they must have experienced. Children are our legacy, our joy, and our responsibility. They begin their lives totally trusting in and dependant on our integrity. Too often their trust is misplaced.

Ann O'Farrell, 2006