Sometimes, a story comes along that seems to know what it wants to become. The House That Wasn’t There was such a story . . . eventually. The first time I tried to write it, years ago, it came out all wrong, an entire book different from the one you read.
Thanks to the good advice of my friend and agent Rubin Pfeffer, that version is not the book you are holding. Rubin, thank you for that advice, amid so much good advice over the years.
In its second incarnation, The House That Wasn’t There entered the world much more smoothly. This time, it was surrounded by so many enthusiastic and supportive people. I’m especially indebted to my friend Martha Brockenbrough, who worked alongside me, whose energy and enthusiasm always buoys me; and my early readers, including my sisters Sasha and Mischa Kuczynski and my friends Nina LaCour, Laura Ruby, and Eliot Schrefer. The book is stronger because of the careful attention of each of you.
The Walden Pond team is the perfect home for this book and, I hope, many, many more. I’m indebted to my editor, Jordan Brown, whose support and care meant that I was never rushed and that the important nuances of feline teleportation were always taken seriously. Debbie Kovacs, Donna Bray, Tiara Kittrell, Molly Fehr, Amy Ryan, Vaishali Nayak, Audrey Diestelkamp, Sam Benson, and Renée Cafiero all played invaluable roles in the development of the aspects of book-making that are beyond my ken, and I am deeply grateful to you all.
Jessica Tickle, the artist who created the book’s cover, made magic by illustrating the house that wasn’t there in glorious negative space. Thank you so!
And my own little family—Keith, Max, and Davis—as ever, you are the doorways and the keys; you are the house where I know I am always home.