Acknowledgments
My first and greatest thanks must go to Dorian Karchmar: not only superagent, but friend and gifted editor, who put in extraordinary effort to get this book ready for the world. Thanks also to Cathryn Summerhayes, Simone Blaser, Laura Bonner, Ashley Fox, Michelle Feehan, and the rest of the incredibly helpful people at William Morris Endeavor. All have been great.
Thank you to Maya Ziv, Jonathan Burnham, and everyone at Harper, for placing a great deal of faith in a first-time author. Seabiscuit particularly thanks Maya for shepherding this book down the stretch. Similar thanks to the crew at TransWorld Publishers, especially Simon Taylor; if there’s a better man to lunch and talk books with, I haven’t found him yet.
Thank you, Dad and Deb, for being supportive and understanding of the long and circuitous life trajectory that brought me to this point. And big thanks to Christian and Katie, who constantly remind me that love really does move the wide world.
Thanks and love to Shane Bradshaw, who keeps my crazy under control, accommodates my knitting addiction, and reminds me that things will be all right.
I’m sure many writers can produce good work without having a mentor, but I’m not one of them. Thank you to all teachers out there, but particularly to Edward Carey, Chris Offutt, and others who share their gifts at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, as well as the incomparable Professor Betsy Bolton of Swarthmore College. Thank you also to Jonas Honick, the world’s greatest history teacher; I’m not sure what my sense of social justice (or Kelsea’s, for that matter) would look like without you.
Last but not least, thank you, readers. I hope you had a good time here.
About the Author
ERIKA JOHANSEN grew up and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She went to Swarthmore College, earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and eventually became an attorney, but she never stopped writing.