The publishing wizards at Doubleday never cease to amaze me. I am so incredibly thankful for SuperTodd Doughty (the best publicist I’ve ever known or worked with), Judy Jacoby (marketer extraordinaire), Margo Shickmanter (editorial assistant), John Fontana (cover designer), Bill Thomas (publisher and all-around champion), Nora Reichard (production editor), Maggie Carr (copy editor), and Benjamin Hamilton (German-language proofreader). The Random House sales team (especially Cathy Calvert, Ann Kingman, Stacie Carlini, Emily Bates, Lynn Kovach, Beth Koehler, Beth Meister, James Kimball, Janet Cook, Ruth Liebmann, David Weller, and Jason Gobble) are kinder to me than I deserve. Thank you.
Additional thanks go to Abby Belbeck, Rocko Beezlenut, Dian Belbeck, Jannell Barefoot, Tayler Storrs, Michael Easley, Kaylee Storrs, Emily Allison, Kristee Mays, River Jordan, Joy Jordan-Lake, DeeAnn Blackburn, Shelby Rawson, the She Reads blog network, and the amazing women who teach my children so I can write for six hours a day. For your friendship, your service, your leadership, your love, your mentoring, your truth speaking, your diligence, your encouragement, your presence in my life, thank you.
My husband, Ashley, has known and loved me for sixteen years. He is the green-eyed, dimpled, Texan miracle I behold every day. And if I never experience another miracle for the rest of my life, he will be enough. For listening to me when he’d rather have silence, for making coffee when I can’t wake up, for making lunches and taking the early shift with carpool, for being my best friend, my lover, my safe place, thank you.
The Wild Rumpus (London, Parker, Marshall, and Riggs) is the part of my heart that walks around outside of my body. Seeing them grow and mature and learn and risk is the greatest privilege of my life. For this honor, I thank you.
I once heard that to be a Christian simply means that I am a beggar showing other beggars where to find bread. It is the truest thing I know. I am a beggar. And to the Giver of Bread, I say thank You.
And finally, dear reader, for taking a chance on me and on this novel, I thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ariel Lawhon is the author of The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress and cofounder of the popular website SheReads.org. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, four sons, and black Lab—who is, thankfully, a girl.