I owe Kathy Robbins just about everything. A brilliant agent, gifted editor, and a consummate ally, Kathy has been my anchor for nearly two decades. In all that time, she has been fiercely loyal, demanding, and generous. Her team at the Robbins Office—David Halpern, Louise Quayle, Mike Gillespie, Rachelle Bergstein, and Arielle Asher—is an indispensable support system, always smart, thoughtful, and gracious.
My editors at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt took to this book with enthusiasm and heart. George Hodgman, who acquired the book, gave it his keen eye and sensibility, and Andrea Schulz and Christina Morgan contributed their exceptional talents and skills. Thanks are hardly enough for everyone else who worked on the book at HMH, including Alison Kerr Miller for her terrific copyediting; Lisa Glover for orchestrating production; Patrick Barry for the book jacket and Melissa Lotfy for the interior design; Christina Mamangakis and Ayesha Mirza for introducing the book to the world; Loren Isenberg for expert advice; and Johnathan Wilber for keeping me on my toes.
My deepest gratitude to my family: my sister Angeles, now gone, remains a constant inspiration; my sisters Carmen, Sara, and Olga stayed by me through difficult stretches, always encouraging even when there was little to encourage; my brothers, Amaury and Hank, along with my magnificent nieces and nephews, cheered me on from the sidelines.
I owe a lifelong debt of gratitude to colleagues and friends in Manila for their invaluable friendship and camaraderie over the years I lived there. To all of them, salamat po!
A number of wonderful editors and writers have offered advice, support, and friendship along the way, especially Alison Smale, Elise O’Shaughnessy, Carolyn Lee, Gloria Anderson, Gene Roberts, Joe Lelyveld, Susan Kamil, Robin Desser, Tina Brown, Graydon Carter, Klara Glowczewska, Reinaldo Herrera, Michael Caruso, Jennifer Hershey, Seth Mydans, Jim Naughton, Danielle Mattoon, and Jill Abramson.
For a variety of reasons, I owe much more than I could ever say to Tim, Andy, Mirta Ojito, Mark Bulik, Mark Fineman, Jennifer Mlekoday, Adam Platt, Tif Loehnis, Tom Christie, Kate Doyle, Nan Doyle, Susanna Doyle, Victoria Doyle, Kate Platt, Greg Brock, Jane Ashley, Mari Mater O’Neill, Liane Ramírez, Monica Corcoran, Amy Blackstone, Julia Preston, Trudy Rubin, Fran Dauth, Jennifer Preston, Belén Fidalgo, and Margaret Scott.
LLT
New York, New York
August 31, 2011