Publishing is a team sport and this has been especially true in bringing this project to fruition. My deepest gratitude goes to my agent, Sara Crowe, who continues to be a pillar of support. A hearty thank-you to my editors, Brendan Deneen and Kat Brzozowski, who oversaw the inception of Lucy’s story and to Chris Morgan, who shepherded it through the final stages. Thanks also to Rachelle Mandik for your eagle eyes.
I am very grateful to have found a home at Tor Teen. Many thanks to Kathleen Doherty, Sumiya Nowshin, and everyone in marketing and publicity who work so hard to get books out into the world! Also a huge shout-out to Liane Worthington and the team at BookSparks.
There are many early and second readers to whom I owe a huge debt for lending their critical expertise in various domains and helping me to shape this story into something book-like. Thank you to Amy Carol Reeves, Teresa Yea, Elizabeth Fama, Alex Bear, Ellen Rozek, McCall Hoyle, Sangu Mandanna, Darshana Khiani, Kamilla Benko, Robin Talley, Misa Sugiura, Carlie Sorosiak, Ame Igharo, Deborah McCandless, Georgina Cullman, and Suguru Furuta. My husband, Jack Mozley, is always my first reader at the end of a fevered day of writing and his Ph.D. in quantum physics came in pretty handy this time around. Any scientific or sci-fi errors are entirely my own!
I am also sincerely appreciative of the time my fellow authors have taken to give me blurbs and generally shout about my books online. An enormous thank-you to Stacey Lee, Taran Matharu, Laura Lam, Dan Godfrey, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Julie Cross, Royce Buckingham, Beth Revis, Amie Kaufman, Samantha Shannon, and Stephanie Garber.
Although publishing a book takes a village, the writing life can often be quite a solitary existence (especially in the depths of an English winter), which is why I consider myself lucky to have bookish friends in a plethora of time zones. Sending much chocolate and gin to Kaitlyn Sage Patterson, Heidi Heilig, Kelly deVos, Annie Stone, Karen M. McManus, Rebecca Denton, Melissa Albert, Sara Holland, Vic James, Sarah Nicole Smetana, Kes Trester, Somaiya Daud, Dhonielle Clayton, Melanie Conklin, Ali Standish, Lucy Hounsom, Julia Ember, Katherine Corr, Megan Bannen, Yamille Saied Méndez, Rhoda Belleza, Elsie Chapman, Alice Broadway, Elizabeth Lim, Zoraida Córdova, Natalie C. Parker, Samira Ahmed, and April G. Tucholke. I also owe the next round at the pub here in London to Laura Dodd and Stevie Finnegan.