Thank you to my wonderful agent, Jin Auh, for believing in this book from the beginning and for advocating on its behalf.
I have been so moved by the enthusiasm of everyone at SJP for Hogarth. Thank you, Rose Fox, Rachel Rokicki, Molly Stern, and my brilliant and big-hearted editors: Lindsay Sagnette, for seeing all I wanted seen and for showing me what I failed to; Becky Hardie, for an eye both precise and sweeping; Parisa Ebrahimi, for knowing when I needed reassurance and when I needed to be pushed toward the finish line. My heartfelt thanks to Sarah Jessica Parker, for your faith in this family’s story, for reading with love, and for bringing this book into the world with that same love.
Thank you to Charlotte Crowe, whose friendship makes this world a far more familiar and expansive place. I am so lucky to know your rare heart and radiant mind, both of which have been boundless sources of courage and inspiration for me, in fiction and in life.
And lastly, thank you to my first and most trusted reader, my brother Ali-Moosa Mirza. I would be lost if it were not for your patience and insight all these years. For never failing me, for knowing this family even when I forgot, and for always reminding me, I thank you. And I love you.