So much gratitude goes to the team at Simon & Schuster for taking my story and turning it into a beautiful book. To Ruta Rimas, my editor—thank you for your careful eye, endless enthusiasm, tireless advocacy, and the occasional clever and clarifying stick-figure drawing. Thanks also to Justin Chanda and Eunice Kim for support at every level, to Debra Sfetsios-Conover for designing yet another powerful cover for me. And thank you to Leo Hartas for creating the stunning map of Kupari.
As always, I am grateful to my agent, Kathleen Ortiz, for being a true partner in this business. Thanks also to the rest of the New Leaf team, including Danielle Barthelle, Joanna Volpe, Jaida Temperly, Jess Dallow, and Dave Caccavo, for amazing auxiliary support.
I owe many hugs to Virginia Boecker and Lydia Kang for reading early versions of this manuscript and giving me the encouragement I needed to keep working on it.
Thanks to the CCBS team—it is a pleasure and a privilege to work with all of you. Special gratitude goes to Catherine Allen, who supplies coffee and wisdom and laughter, and to Paul and Liz, for being Paul and Liz.
My family has been a source of unending support, and without them, it would have been so much more difficult to face the various storms of the past year. Mom and Dad, Cathryn and Robin, Alma and Asher, you each inspire me in different ways. I love you.
And to my readers, thank you for making this work so worthwhile. It’s a privilege to share my stories with you.