Acknowledgments

It is a relief and a pleasure to finally be able to thank those who have helped me.

Miriam Altshuler, you are an extraordinary agent and a wonderful friend. I feel very fortunate to be your client.

Kara Watson, thank you for your exquisite editorial eye, your marketing brilliance, and for being so gifted at what you do.

Whitney Frick, you tended to these characters with me. You have been a fierce advocate of this novel from the beginning, and I’m so happy that this book brought us together.

I wish to acknowledge the Rona Jaffe Foundation and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for their generous support. Beth McCabe, your belief in this project was a game changer. Michael Collier, I owe so much to Bread Loaf. Thank you, many times over.

To Helen Schulman, for being a remarkable teacher and for leading workshops exactly as they should be led. Teddy Wayne, for being unfailingly generous throughout this process. Dave Gilbert, for being so kind, and so cool.

Ron DeMaio founded an arts program at my public high school that made me think I could be a writer. Before that program, I didn’t know that being a writer was feasible. Honestly, I didn’t know that writers existed. Ron, the program you created and your inspired way of leading it changed the course of my life. You mentored me at fourteen, and you read a first draft of this novel nearly two decades later. In essence, this is all your fault.

Thank you to the magazines and editors who have believed in my work, especially VQR.

There are two people I wish to acknowledge who are no longer here. The first, Stan Hall, was my eighth-grade English teacher. A dazzling teacher, he promised he would forever scan bookstore titles for my name. He was certain this day would come, and I wish he could be here to witness it.

The second, Jared H. Miller, was a friend who died in 2005 after a courageous battle with cancer. Jared was in the middle of getting his MD/PhD, and his death came as a shock. I think of Jared often. I think of the example he set, the way he inspired those around him, and his immense generosity and drive. He never would have guessed it, being far too humble, but he influenced me tremendously, and his memory influences me still.

Thank you to Nan Graham, Katie Monaghan, and all of the outstanding people at Scribner. Thanks also to Bronwen Pardes for going to bat for me, Micaela Tobin for her musical expertise, and Reiko Davis for her extraordinary helpfulness throughout this process.

To my friends and family who have cheered me on and rooted for me; your support means more than I can say. I especially wish to thank Manish, Jen, Sofie and Serena Shanbhag. To my mother, Suhas Shanbhag: how lucky I am, to have been raised by you. You taught me more than you could ever know.

Finally, this novel is dedicated to Noah and Zoe Lang. Noah, this book would have been impossible without you. It is that simple.

Zoe, people sometimes ask how I wrote a novel while caring for a baby. They do not understand. I didn’t write this book despite having you. I wrote this book because of having you. My daughter, you have inspired me to be a better person, raising me up simply by being you. Thank you for being exactly who you are.