So grateful.
To two amazing, hardworking, probing, wonderful editors! First, Mary Kate Castellani, and then, when she went on leave, Susan Dobinick. The transition was absolutely painless, so seamless.
I also had the good, great fortune to work with the assiduous, thoughtful, and so very engaged copyeditor Patricia McHugh, proofreader Regina Castillo, and production editor Diane Aronson. I am also grateful to so many others at Bloomsbury for their hard work and support: Claire Stetzer, Beth Eller, Courtney Griffin, Brittany Mitchell, Donna Mark, Melissa Kavonic, Cindy Loh, and Cristina Gilbert.
Huge thanks is due my sister, Nelta, a graduate of FIT, who was super helpful with descriptions of clothing, especially the really fancy items. I also thank L. J. Dean with the National Railway Historical Society for the generous response to my questions about the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad and to Brittany Mayo at the Georgia Historical Society for the swift response to my inquiry about Shad Island.
Thanks, too, to Sharon G. Flake for sound, solid feedback on the early manuscript.
And to my agent, Jennifer Lyons: as always you have been matchless.