Acknowledgments
THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE without the support of my dream team, and for them, I am forever grateful. To my agent, Kristin Nelson and her team at Nelson Literary Agency. Thank you for your tireless work, especially finding the perfect editors for Under a Painted Sky. To Jen Besser and Shauna Fay Rossano, for being those perfect editors.
To the talented Evelyn Ehrlich, Caitlin Swift, and Mónica Bustamante Wagner for whom the term “critique partner” falls woefully short. You are my kindred spirits, and both my book and I are better for knowing you.
Special thanks to beta-readers Abigail Wen and Ana Inglis. I am also deeply grateful for my dear friends Alice Chen-Hsi, Susan Repo, Angela Hum, and Jennifer Fan for keeping me sane, Jodi Meadows for her infinite wisdom, and Adlai Coronel and Bijal Vakil for keeping me laughing. To Mimi Chan for her amazing technical wizardry, and David Huang for his vast knowledge of antique guns. A big group squeeze for my fellow debut authors in the Fearless Fifteen and my girls at the Freshman Fifteen. A humongous thank-you to Eric Elfman, whom every writer should have in her back pocket. And to all the other folks who generously took the time to advise me on this book, in part or whole, my heartfelt thanks, as well.
To my big sister Laura for reading my book when it was just an awkward toddler, and to both her and her husband, Bach, for taking my kids camping so I wouldn’t have to. I mean, so I would have time to write. To my little sister Alyssa and her husband, Tony, for supporting me in so many ways. To Dolores and Wai Lee, who put up with all my questions about Chinese philosophy and language.
To Avalon and Bennett. Every time I look into your sweet faces, I see the person I want to be. (And I also see a little bit of chocolate on them, so wipe that off, please.) And last but not least, to Jonathan. Thank you for encouraging me to do what I love, and more importantly, for keeping the remuda watered and fed, so I have time to write stories like this.
To my parents, Carl and Evelyn Leong, who always believed that I would be a doctor, but weren’t surprised that I turned out a writer. Thank you for playing songs from the Old West for me, fostering in me a love of books, and showing me the right way to live a life. Finally, thank you to God, through whom all things are possible.
Stacey Lee is a fourth-generation Chinese American. A Southern California native, she graduated from UCLA and got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. Now she plays classical piano, wrangles children, and writes young adult fiction. Stacey lives outside San Francisco, California.
Visit Stacey at: www.staceyhlee.com
Follow her on Twitter: @staceyleeauthor