I have experienced neither the crazy highs of Leonard Puckett’s writing career nor the abysmal lows of Anthony Puckett’s, but I have been around the block enough to realize how lucky I am to be here. Elisabeth Weed of The Book Group has been my tireless, optimistic, hardworking, and clever agent from the beginning, and I am grateful. My new editor Kate Nintzel’s brilliant, indelible mark is all over this book, and thank goodness for that. It improved by leaps and bounds with her touch. Thank you to Vedika Khanna for steering me through the nitty-gritty details. I’m still getting to know everybody else at William Morrow, but I feel so warmly welcomed. To borrow a phrase from that famous redheaded orphan, I think I’m gonna like it here. A big thanks goes to Jenny Meyer for handling foreign rights.
Pam Gasner of the Block Island Historical Society was kind enough to give me a tour of the island and share some tidbits about life there. Kate Butcher, Molly Fitzpatrick, and Vincent Carlone answered various island-related questions for me. Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University helped me sort out the details of weather events on Block Island. Block Island is truly a special place and such a rewarding location to set a book. Though I don’t live there, I did my best to understand it and to honor it. I tried to keep geographical liberties to a minimum, but I may have taken a few, especially placing a couple of imaginary cottages close to the water in service of the story. I hope the island understands. Kathryne Taylor of one of my favorite food blogs, Cookie and Kate, answered my many questions about food blogging, and many of her recipes inspired my fictional food blogger. Dianne Jacob also helped me understand the industry.
The inspiration for Joy Bombs came from a local whoopie pie shop in my town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Julie Ganong and Alan Mons of Chococoa Baking Company and Café, who reinvented the whoopie pie long before Joy did, generously gave me insight into their fabulously successful business. (If you visit Newburyport, you really need to stop by.) Joy Bombs’ motto, “Reinventing the whoopie pie,” is a twist on Chococoa’s “A twist on the classic whoopie pie.”
My friends and neighbors, Marc and Cindy Burkhardt, have been beyond generous with keys to their beach house to allow me some writing time away from home. (I especially appreciate the upgrade to an ocean view this year.) Newburyport wouldn’t be the same without my mom squad, who have never met a cocktail menu or a dance floor they didn’t like, and my mental stability wouldn’t be the same without my frequent runs with Jana Schulson.
Jennifer Truelove, always a willing researcher, this time helped me find the right T-shirts for Maggie to wear and create the perfect titles for Leonard Puckett’s body of work. The other third of our trio, Margaret Dunn (along with Wally Dunn), let me pretend to be a playwright for a weekend to join her retreat in Maine when I was working on the first draft of this book.
My parents, John and Sara Mitchell, and my sister, Shannon Mitchell, have never been ashamed to make up ninety percent of the audience of a book reading all on their own, and for their love and unwavering support, and that of the Moore and Destrampe families, I thank them.
Addie, Violet, and Josie: you are turning into such smart, interesting, independent, funny, talented young women right before my very eyes. I am so fortunate to have a front seat to your show, which often requires a good amount of audience participation. In this case I don’t mind.
A bookseller recently dubbed my husband, Brian Moore, my “number one fan,” and not only do I feel incredibly lucky to be able to agree with that, the sentiment goes both ways, forever.