My publishing dream was just that until my shooting star of an agent, Hillary Jacobson, made it a reality. Writers don’t like to talk about the novels in drawers, but when my first one didn’t sell, Hillary told me she’d stick with me for the next hundred if that’s what it took. Thankfully, it took only one more—but Hillary edited countless drafts with me over eighteen months, until we’d given it the best chance for an editor to fall in love. Hillary, I will never be able to thank you enough. I get to do what I love every day because of you.
Thank you also to my UK agent, Sue Armstrong, for finding the best home for this book at Michael Joseph, and to Sophie Baker and Jodi Fabbri at Curtis Brown for the dream of seeing this book translated into multiple languages. Thank you to my film/TV agent, Josie Freedman at ICM, for a career (life?) highlight I hope to be able to talk about one day.
And my editors—I can’t imagine working with more brilliant, generous people than Jessica Williams and Joel Richardson. You two saw the book not only for what it was, but for what it could be. I’ll never forget reading your first twenty-page edit letter, balking at the work ahead (still!), and then, on a second read, realizing how damn lucky I was to have you on my team. Thank you for loving this story and devoting your considerable talents to helping me tell it as best I could. At Michael Joseph, thanks also to Clio Cornish and Grace Long for stepping in so reassuringly during Joel’s paternity leave. My book has always been in such amazing hands.
Thank you to Julia Elliott for the cheerful and always helpful production coordination on the U.S. side, and to copy editors extraordinaire Cecilia Molinari and Laura Cherkas, who ensured, among other things, this did not accidentally become a time travel novel. Thank you to Ploy Siripant for designing my stunning U.S. cover—you brought my book to life in a way I never dreamed—and to art director Lee Motley and picture researcher Alice Chandler at Michael Joseph for the months of research, consideration, and conversation that went into designing my gorgeous U.K. cover. I’m so grateful. Thank you also to Eliza Rosenberry and the publicity, sales and marketing teams I haven’t met yet, but who will champion this book in ways I likely can’t even imagine. It has been a joy working with you all.
And finally, my whole heart of love and gratitude to my husband, Adrian. Not every man would sit next to a twenty-year-old girl on a flight who calls herself a writer and ask to read some of her work then and there. Even fewer would move across the world ten years later and ask that girl to marry them. Thank you for the years of brainstorming with me about murders and double marriages, and for every single time you took the kids so I could write. Thank you for believing in me. This book wouldn’t exist without you. I wouldn’t want to exist without you.
And to Jo and Jack: I love you more than you’ll ever know.
About the Author
KATIE GUTIERREZ has an MFA from Texas State University, and her writing has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the Washington Post, Longreads, Texas Monthly, and more. She was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and now lives in San Antonio, with her husband and their two children. This is her first novel.
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