My wife and love, Arminda Bepko, deserves more gratitude and adoration than I can express here—for being an inspiration to me, for carrying me through every dark time, for laughing with me in the light days, for our walks in the snow, and for living with the constant amusement and terror I’ve thrown her way.
For a book about family, thank you to mine for your patience, support, and love, particularly my sons, Bradford and Griffin; my brothers, Craig, Keith, and Derek; my late parents, to whom this book is dedicated; Dina, Marisa, and Christie; and Jean, Jerry, and JJ Bepko. I owe much, including my face and my lo mein recipe, to my grandfather, Siew Choong To, and my basic Teochew to him and my late grandmother, Sai Luan Tang. My late grandmother Dorothy, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and my “adopted” family, Ann Thomas, Dan Rabinowitz, Sam and Caleb, will always have my gratitude.
This book would not be in your hands without Madelyn Burt, Ellen Scordato, and the Stonesong team. Thank you, Maddy, for believing in me, for your guidance and care, and for helping me achieve this dream, and to Ellen for carrying me forward. Similarly, I’m grateful for the wonderful team at Counterpoint Press, particularly my editor Dan López, for helping to tell this story with me, Dan Goff for the sharp eye, and Laura Berry, Yukiko Tominaga, Wah-Ming Chang, Megan Fishmann, Rachel Fershleiser, Robin Bilardello, Nicole Caputo, and Dan Smetanka.
Many friends assisted me as I shaped the drafts of this story and supported me in the writing process. For helping me write the best story I could tell, thank you to: Alyssa Jennette for cheering me on and lending an ear to my impromptu brainstorming; Amanda Daly, Valerie McCammon, Christopher Millay, and Christine Virnig for a decade of writing support, encouragement, and feedback; Janna Berke, Shoshana Bulow, Hane Kim, Ladan Stewart, Jennifer Vakiener, Charlotte Underwood, and Craig Zheng, all of whom volunteered their time, sharp eyes, and thoughtful insight on drafts (not to mention their invaluable friendships); Jennifer Vickery, Patrick Frisch, and Cheri and Vince Fandozzi for inviting me into their homes while I worked on the novel; and Ken Lee for his candid insights. I’m also incredibly appreciative of Lori Rader-Day for her encouragement and sage advice over the years.
For their inspiration, love, support, and camaraderie, thank you to Kaveh Haerian and Genevieve de Mahy; Kate Suvari and Chris Dysard; Cara Jackson; Mary McCann; Brian Markley; Caitlin Cline; Jon-Mychal and Adrienne Bowman; David Sajadi; Chris Shade; Maureen Nash; Harris Katz; Luke Nikas; and Lenni Benson. To those whom I know and love but did not have the space to name, thank you for enriching my life.
Finally, this novel uses snippets of the Teochew language—all food-related—that I learned from my grandparents and family. Teochew is the only spoken language I shared with my grandparents, and I speak it imperfectly. There are many Teochew, gaginang, as we would say, who live in a wide diaspora. Although I attempted to verify the romanization of the Teochew I used here, I hope that Teochew who read this novel will forgive any errors in my use of the dialect.