Acknowledgments

Many people were enormously generous with their time, feedback, and encouragement while I wrote this story. Carolyn Boykin, Dan Fouts, Bob Hoffmann, Jean Hoffmann, Carole Mackey, Ben Mba, and Mark Splitstone fought through the early drafts and told me the truth about what they found. My Columbia College cohort—Ally, Amanda, Christine, Dee, Grace, Haydee, Laura, Matt, Peter, and Ted—read way too many pages but remained graciously relentless in their feedback. Amy McConnell made me look younger and less tired. Jessica Worobec traded her patience and creativity for a bottle of wine.

I owe a tremendous debt to my teachers. Don DeGrazia helped birth the story. Joe Meno encouraged me to grow it into a novel. Garnett Kilberg-Cohen forced me to shorten my sentences and strengthen my characters. Alexis Pride coaxed those characters more fully onto the page, and Patty McNair taught me to paint a world in which they could live. Sasha Hemon asked, What else? And if any poetry leaked into my prose, I blame CM Burroughs.

Bart Maestranzi, who hails from a long line of moletas, told me about his family’s knife-grinding business, taught me about sharp objects, and shared the story of his ‘Greek’ father. Patrick Grassi’s On the Edge of Emigration provided an excellent history of the diaspora of knife grinders from the Val Rendena.

Harvey Klinger, my agent, saw enough in my initial submission to suggest that I change everything and then ushered my revised story into the world with enormous enthusiasm. Jackie Cantor first generated excitement for the story at Simon & Schuster. Marysue Rucci, my editor and champion, challenged me to craft a better novel with her incisive and thoughtful feedback. Hana Park, Sara Kitchen, Erica Ferguson, and the rest of the team at Simon & Schuster applied that special magic that turns 83,000 words into a book.

My mom and dad first taught me about love. They also decided that they wouldn’t replace the broken TV until all three of their children made the honor roll in the same quarter. My brother, Bill, and sister, Linda, helped me ensure that no television intruded for several years, making space for me to fall in love with books. My work with Bob Knott allowed me to set aside years in the middle part of my life to write a novel. Roshan and Grace made me a father, taught me everything that I hadn’t yet learned about love, and helped me to see the world through new eyes. And last but most: this book would not have been started, much less finished, without Sara, my partner, my wife, my love. She read this book more than anyone—even though it made her stomach hurt every time.