I wish to acknowledge the founder and the administrators of the Bard Fiction Prize for their generous financial support, and Ledig House International Writers’ Colony and the Vermont Studio Center for time and space in which to write.
Many thanks are due to everyone at Farrar, Straus and Giroux for their fine work on Brookland’s behalf, but I particularly wish to express my gratitude to my editor, John Glusman, his assistant, Corinna Barsan, and Jonathan Lippincott, who designed this book so beautifully. I also wish to thank my agent, Eric Simonoff.
I owe especial thanks to Kirsten Bakis, both for being my first reader and for bequeathing Jolly to me from her own novel. I thank Laura Harger, Marshall Curry, and Jack Robbins for their invaluable help in reading later drafts; Michael Bardin and Ken Levenson for their assistance with architecture and engineering; Aoibheann Sweeney, Adam Snyder, Lauren Harrison, Jon Austin, Jeff Dolven, Graham Burnett, Edmond Miller, Philip Gura, Joe Martin, Ben Strauss, Kevin Grau, Bibi Gaston, and Judith Berger for answering questions while I was fact-checking; and Cecile Barendsma for the Dutch swears.
And lastly, dear Chris—I realize I promised you a book about the Brooklyn Bridge, but I hope this will suffice.
Emily Barton
Brooklyn, NY
October 2005