Acknowledgments

During the course of writing this book, I lost three women who meant the world to me. Each of their lives—the way they lived and the way they didn’t—inspired and informed parts of this story. Unfading gratitude to my mother, Iman Khosrowshahi, née Faith Lita Knobel, who patiently and lovingly listened to early drafts through years of illness, recovery, and relapse; to Kathi Kamen Goldmark, whose presence I still feel whenever writing in a café, and whose friendship was as pure as sunlight; and to Asya Levai, the inspiration for “Olga,” who died in Tehran in 2014, dashing our hopes that we would see one another again.

This book would not have survived its long journey to publication without the tough love and unwavering heart of my brilliant agent, Laurie Liss. I am forever indebted to my private editor Joy Johannessen, who read through over a thousand pages, pointed to Version Two, and never lost faith, even when I did. So much gratitude to my editor, John Scognamiglio, for championing this book without hesitation, and for treating it with care and respect.

Once a novel is written, it must find a house in which to live and grow. If the novelist is lucky, that house becomes a welcoming, nurturing, and well-run home. I’m very lucky. Thank you to my Kensington family, especially Steve Zacharius and Adam Zacharius, Lynn Cully, Kristine Noble, Joyce Kaplan, Carly Sommerstein, Vida Engstrand, Michelle Addo, Matt Johnson, and Jackie Dinas.

My infinite appreciation to the people who read my words, listened to my frustrations, calmed my anxieties, advised me, drank my tea, fed me, yelled at me, laughed and cried and kvetched with me, lectured me, teased me, and held me: Rabih Alameddine, Anita Amirrezvani, Ozi Badiey, Naseem Badiey, Carol Hodges Balodis, Rosaleen Bertolino, Karen Bjorneby, Louann Brizendine, Sylvia Brownrigg, Riki Carignan, Jeanne Carstensen, Roya Chadab, Jane Ciabattari, Joshua Citrak, Cindy Dunne, Ladonna Fasig, Audrey Ferber, Cynthia Gentry, Molly Giles, Sheila Gordon, Susan Ito, Scott James, Lauren John, Guy Johnson, Farimah Justus, Yukari Kane, Juliette Kelley, Deborah Kirk, Laura Osio Khosrowshahi, Lili Khosrowshahi, Alice Kleeman, Lee Kravetz, Shana Mahaffey, Carol Markson, Kirsten Menger-Anderson, Diana Miller, Marjaneh Moghimi, Blair Moser, Kate Moses, Randi Murray, John McMurtrie, Janis Cooke Newman, Gina Nahai, Peggy Orenstein, Elaine Petrocelli, Nahid Rachlin, Ethel Rohan, Elizabeth Rosner, Roxana Saberi, Mariam Safinia, Jacqueline Shapiro, Ellen Sussman, Laura Secor, Lisa See, Lalita Tademy, Amy Tan, Cameron Tuttle, Ayelet Waldman, Susan Wels, and Marsha Williams.

Special gratitude to my daily Surveillance Writing Companions for keeping me in the chair, and to the writing communities that have nurtured my mental and social health: Hedgebrook, The Community of Writers, The Castro Writers Cooperative, The San Francisco Writers Grotto, and Word-of-Mouth Bay Area.

Deep love and gratitude to my father, Nasrollah Khosrowshahi, for every story he ever told me, for showing me how a person can change and soften over decades but still remain infuriatingly the same, and for letting me make fun of his accent at every turn. To my siblings—Marcene, Kevin, and Cameron—thank you for loving me and for pretending to put up with my unsolicited advice. Shout out to my niece, Roxanna Hedayati, for her unique and amazing artist’s eye.

Thank you to my badass organizational genius daughter-in-law, Hilary, and to my precious son, Darian, who shows his devotion in so many ways and who never lets me give up. Finally, to my husband, Shahram Shirazi, who has known me and protected me and annoyed me since we met as children: I could not have persisted without you.