A FIRST AND VERY special thanks must go to Hillary Jordan, a true friend and colleague, who read this when it was but a short story in broken English; who helped me improve that story and write several more, and helped me all throughout the process of giving those stories the shape of the present book, never wavering, not even when I did. Hill: your invaluable advice and enthusiasm, your immeasurable faith and love have been absolutely vital to the writing of this novel and to my own sanity. This book is yours, mine, ours.
Special thanks to the following people:
To Maureen Howard, for her wisdom and guidance, and for asking me the same question over and over until I finally got it. Magda Bogin, for her good judgment and suggestions, and for lending me her charming house in Tepoztlán where I wrote a chapter of this novel. Binnie Kirshenbaum, David Plante, Victoria Redel, Alan Ziegler and the faculty of the Columbia University Writing Division, for embracing my work with passion.
To friends and artistic soulmates who read this book, or parts of it, in various stages, and contributed their valuable observations: Allison Amend, Raul Correa, Elizabeth Harris-Behling, Antonia Logue, Michele Morano, Amy Sickels and Scott Snyder.
For their enthusiasm and trust, and for seeing what others couldn’t, I am especially indebted to two extraordinary women: my agent, Lisa Bankoff; and my editor, Claire Wachtel. I must add here that a great part of the pleasure of working with them has been the amazing help provided by their super assistants: Tina Wexler at ICM; and Lauretta Charlton at HarperCollins.
For their grants and fellowships, I would like to thank the Henfield Foundation, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative, the Columbia University Writing Division, the MacDowell Colony, the Corporation of Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Millay Colony and the Hall Farm Center for Arts and Education.
For their moral support and friendship, thanks to Bogdan Apetri, Alejandro Aragón, Neilson Barnard, Patricia Cepeda, Kathryn and Gary DiMauro, Beth Dodd, Miguel Falquéz-Certain, René Jiménez, Jaime Manrique, Melissa Moran and the staff at Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant, Claudia and Alfredo Sanclemente, Sue Torres, and Rob Williams.
My love and deepest gratitude to my mother and my grandmother for giving me the inspiration to write this book; to my brothers, Oscar, Hernán, Pepe and Carlos, and my sister, Margarita, and to my entire family for their love and belief in me.
Finally, for enduring my insane writing process with so much grace, for your infinite faith, love and understanding, and for creating a wonderful life for me outside my tales, mil y mil gracias a ti, José, with all my love.