THERE WERE A NUMBER of work worlds I needed to inform myself about in order to write this book, and I’d like to thank the people who made this task the pleasure it turned out to be. Judy Muller kindly e-mailed me a prepublication copy of her fascinating and funny book about small-town newspapers, Emus Loose in Egnar, and it was more useful than I can say. Sam Allis helped me with newsroom terminology and reporting practices. Kevin O’Hara and Adrian Lakin answered my myriad questions about volunteeer fire departments and how they work, and I’m grateful to them both. Nora Love and Jennifer Martin were more than generous in talking to me about their rich and rewarding lives as aid workers in Africa. The confusion and struggles of my fictional character are not theirs.
My agent Jill Kneerim and Doug Bauer carefully read and commented on an earlier version of the book. Jordan Pavlin, in her editorial wisdom, turned me back into it to do the major revision that made it, finally, much more the novel I had set out to try to write.
Thank you, all.