Many readers helped me along the way. To these in particular I am grateful: Ellen Ruffin, Curator of the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi, and her assistant, Katie Windham, my very first readers who kindly let me know that my early chapters were not quite ready for prime time; Anna South of The Literary Consultancy in London, whose confidence in my writing lifted me up at a time when I was most discouraged; Barbara Esstmann, who threw both champagne and rotten tomatoes at various drafts (more tomatoes than champagne, I’m afraid); Leslie Pietrzyk and all my fellow students at the Writers Center in Bethesda; Ron Gutierrez, a reader I met online through a writing seminar, who was enthusiastic from the beginning, and who has unfailingly cheered me up many times over the years; the indomitable Kay Brinnier, who showed great interest in my work from the beginning; Christopher Rhodes, who did everything he could and who believed in this book; and all the wonderful people at Vermont Studio Center, where various versions of this novel took shape.
Also: My dear friend Lindsey Lang, who championed my work in all its stages; Mo Henderson, my hometown head cheerleader, along with all my other book club friends who supported me throughout this very long process; Carol Ridgway, who caught some embarrassing errors; and John McClure and Patrick Joyce, who took a bit of this journey with me.
And, of course, family: My sister, Lisa, and her husband, Stephen, who kindly read my novel in an early stage and gave it high marks despite its not being the sort of book either one would choose to read; my son, Jake, always my fan—thank you for the love and support, and for opening the door to your friend, Matt Martz, who gave me encouragement and a push in the right direction; and my husband, Toni, the steady rock amid my roiling waters— thank you for that, and for the incomparable Twr Dwr.
I save until last my profound gratitude to someone I have never met, whose name I do not know. But I would like whoever wrote the Kirkus review of my novel to know that his or her praise has made all the difference to me.
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Also, I am very indebted to the following individuals, universities, and museums that gave me permission to use material from their archives:
Quotations. The Hyman Kreitman Research Centre for the Tate Library and Archive in London, for use of Margery Bianco’s letter to Jimmie Manson; David Wirshup, owner of Anacapa Books, Carmel, CA, for copies of material found inside his rare edition of Robert Schlick’s The Supplement Poems: Written during the Composition of The Imagination, A Poem in Four Books: two unattributed holograph manuscripts from eyewitnesses describing the Harlem wedding of Pamela Bianco and Robert Schlick, and a letter from Robert Schlick to Alexander Gumby dated January 29, 1933; Lilly Library, Indian University at Bloomington, for access to and use of Richard Hughes’s papers; The Literary Trustees of Walter de la Mare and the Society of Authors as their representative (London), executor of the estate of Walter de la Mare, for permission to use excerpts from de la Mare’s poems Autumn and To Some Most Happy Men; Rosemary A. Thurber and The Barbara Hogenson Agency, for permission to use The New Yorker memo written by James Thurber to Harold Ross; Condé Nast Licensing for permission to use The New Yorker memos written by Eddie O’Toole and Eugene Kinkead; Hal Leonard LLC, for permission to reprint lyric from “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”, ? Universal Music Corp., words and music by Jimmie Cox; and Jane Kaplowitz Rosenblum, for permission to use excerpt from Robert Rosenblum’s catalogue essay for Pamela Bianco’s 1961 exhibition at the David Herbert Galleries, New York City.
Photographs and illustrations. Cover photograph of Pamela in her studio ? The Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library, Louise Seaman Bechtel Papers, Folder 5.63; Cover detail from The Velveteen Rabbit cover drawing by William Nicholson (1872-1949) ? Desmond Banks; “Pomegranate” ?The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY; “Z is for Zita” poem and accompanying illustration from Pamela Bianco’s Beginning with A, by permission of Oxford University Press USA; portrait of Pamela in sweater and skirt, courtesy George Eastman Museum, ? Nickolas Muray Archives; portrait of Agnes O’Neill, courtesy Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives, Connecticut College, ? Nickolas Muray Archives; portrait of Eugene O’Neill, courtesy George Eastman Museum, ? Nickolas Muray Archives; the group photograph on the beach, courtesy Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives, Connecticut College, ? Nickolas Muray Archives; and “The Appointment,” The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution (photography by Cathy Carver).