Special thanks to Val Gallant and all the members of the Vancouver Scrabble Club for letting me be a fly on the wall at their regular meetings and at the Vancouver Scrabble Tournament. Unlike my fictional characters, I never had the courage to play a game against any of them. Thanks must also go to Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak, a rollicking good read about the world of competitive Scrabble.
I also owe undying gratitude to
Susan Juby, whose generosity knows no bounds;
Hilary McMahon, both for taking me on and for her day-to-day passion and dedication;
Kathy Lowinger and Sue Tate, for seeing the potential, and for their excellent notes that helped make the story stronger and better;
Luther Wright, my ‘longest’ friend, who kindly let me use his lyrics for ‘Darlin’’;
My husband, Goran, who read an early draft of the manuscript and told me I wasn’t crazy;
And last but not least, my son, Oskar, who let me read the manuscript aloud to him – not once but twice – and who, after giving me some perceptive dialogue notes, told me it was his favorite book, both times.