Huge thanks to my early readers: Thomas Kohnstamm, Zachary Cole, and my wife, Lauren. For his indispensable input on everything related to the insurance industry, thanks to my old friend Todd Hall, and thanks to the many Bainbridge Islanders who helped me get the times and places and feelings right, including Karen Beierle and the Bainbridge History Museum. Thanks to Gary Lothian for his input on Paris. Thanks to my mom, whose dogged battle with oral cancer, and grit and determination, were the impetus to write this novel. Thanks to everyone at Dutton: Emily Canders, Nicole Jarvis, Ella Kurki, Aja Pollock, Craig Bunn, Juli Meinz, Alice Dalrymple. Thanks to my long-suffering agent, advocate, and friend, Mollie Glick (and her spectacular assistant Via Ramono!), and to my wise, patient editor, John Parsley, for his belief and stewardship.