Abundant thanks to my wonderful agent, Kim Witherspoon, and her assistant, Julie Schilder, whose perseverance on my behalf brought this book into being. Thanks to Hilary Rubin Teeman at St. Martin’s Press, a remarkable editor and a superb reader who understood what I was trying to say. Love and gratitude to Susan Kamil, a spectacular mentor and better friend. Many, many thanks to Mary Kelley and Judyth van Amringe for their creative demonstrations of love and support. And most important, thanks to my parents, Philip and Elizabeth Pochoda, for their patience when they didn’t understand where I was or what I was up to, and their untiring help when I was lost inside my own head and words.