MY THANKS
To Kate Johnson: super agent, who believed in this book long before it was a book and without whose wisdom, support, and guidance this book would not exist.
To John Oakes: publisher extraordinaire, generous, enthusiastic, and patient even as our cell phone calls were dropped as I was driving up into the mountains.
To Andy Hunter, Jennifer Abel Kovitz, Julie Buntin, and everyone else at Catapult.
To Aimee Bender, T. C. Boyle, Etgar Keret, and Jim Shepard for your early support of this project.
To Sean Bernard, Steven Hayward, Mark Irwin, Dana Johnson, Katherine Karlin, Alexis Landau, and Bonnie Nadzam for your friendship.
To all of my contributors: it’s been an honor, deeply moving, and deeply satisfying to work with so many of my heroes.
To my parents, Jeanne and John Hurt, and to my sister, Emily Hurt, for your unconditional love and support.
Most of all to Marielle and Ezra: for everything.