My stepmother, now named Nettie Rose, has always helped me in understanding my father. My gratitude to her for generosity, patience, and strength.
I also want to thank John L’Heureux, as always, for thirty years of mentorship and inspiration.
My thanks to Elisabeth Schmitz and Katie Raissian and others at Grove for their faith in my work, and of course to my perfect agents, Kim Witherspoon, David Forrer, Lyndsey Blessing, Rob Kraitt, and many others they work with. Thank you all for giving my books a life.
And to my family and to Nettie’s family, an apology, with the thin excuse that I can’t seem to do anything else.