I am inspired every day by the many people who work hard to advocate for those who are easily abandoned or overlooked. They enrich all of our lives.
I am grateful to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for or included in this book. Whether or not someone is directly quoted here, every single person I reached out to helped guide my vision and establish my priorities in writing. Charlotte Lieberman and Sara Overton skillfully conducted the interviews.
Joy Harris, my literary agent, has always been my champion. Bob Miller of Flatiron Books has been a continual source of encouragement.
Barry Boyce, who worked as a developmental editor on this manuscript, created clear style and structure for all my varied attempts at saying what I cared about. Lise Funderburg led me to go far deeper in learning writing as a craft, which is something I’ve always wanted.
Writing this book coincided with a time of my healing from an illness, when I have been supported emotionally, financially, and practically by a group of wonderful friends. I could never have written this book or recovered so well without them.