Thanks to my clear-eyed agent, Tara Gelsomino, who always sees more than I do. Thanks to my brilliant editor, Kate Seaver, and the extraordinary Berkley team, including Bridget O’Toole, Jessica Brock, and Mary Geren. And thanks to the Berkletes—you bowl me over with your talent and derring-do!
I’m wildly lucky to work with fabulous colleagues and students at Wake Forest University. All of you have my deepest appreciation! Sarah Hogan, our midsummer dreams magicked this book into being. I’m so glad we shared a London June. I’m so glad we shared it, too, with such intrepid students. I loved every minute, except for the minutes in the dead of the night when the fire alarms kept ringing.
I first spoke the plot of this book aloud to Julia Scarborough in Bushy Park as the royal deer bounded in the distance. Thank you, Julia, for listening and for always asking the right questions and offering the most specific, spellbinding details. I found inspiration for this book, and other books, with Joanna Howard at the Poet’s Stone. Thank you, Joanna, and our holiday together! Marcia Underwood is my modern model for Muriel Pendrake. Marcia, thank you for wandering the neighborhood and for patiently repeating the names of all the flowering shrubs. Radhika Singh, your Gchat was my favorite romance. Thank you for accompanying me through evolving genres and forms. Mir Yarfitz, you now know all the tropes! Thank you for being a cinnamon grump.
And finally, boundless love and most profound gratitude to my friends, to the Wolves, and to Ruoccos, including Blackberry. Spem in alium!