What follows is but one representation of how lift might have been for a select group of people in the United States in 1893. While I have often relied upon history to develop my plot—have even borrowed peoples' names, reputations, and actions to help my plot unfurl—what I have compiled is, at best, a fictional recreation. The real Dr. S. Weir Mitchell did indeed instruct numerous women to take a rest cure (including the real Charlotte Perkins Gilman), but these women were not left unsupervised in the manner that Winnie was. And to the best of my knowledge, there was never a resort like the Bear Creek Rest Resort.