Acknowledgments

This novel wouldn’t exist without my husband, Adam Levin. His unwavering encouragement and constant support allowed me to see the book behind the book. I want to thank him for tricking me into believing I could finish it, for doing so for as long as it took me to finish it, and for helping me make English my second first language.

I’d also like to thank Christian TeBordo and Jeff Parker; your readings made the book better.

Thank you to my agent, Jackie Ko, for being the first person unrelated to me to think this book should be shown to other people unrelated to me.

Thank you, Tim Duggan, for being the second person to think that. Thank you as well to William Wolfslau and Aja Pollock.

Thanks to my brother and sisters: Jean-Sébastien, Florence, and Mélanie Bordas. And thanks to my mother, Marie, and her own trio of larger-than-fiction/stranger-than-life siblings: Pedro, José, and Juan.