The Favorites: A Novel(123)
Acknowledgments
Before writing The Favorites, I abandoned not one but TWO other novels after years of work, tens of thousands of words written, and several existential crises. So to start off, I’d like to thank anyone and everyone who listened to me bitch and moan during this personal Dark Night of the Soul—especially my agent, Sharon Pelletier, who responded to all my unhinged emails and tearful phone calls with grace, compassion, and unfailingly wise advice. Sharon, you have the patience of a saint, and you deserve to be personally serenaded by Harry Styles himself.
I recognize how tremendously fortunate and privileged I am that I could afford to give this book (and myself!) the necessary time and space to grow. Thank you to my grandparents, June and Howard, for your generosity and support, not only during this strange and stressful time but throughout my entire life. Thanks also to my former employer, for subsidizing my creative passions for a decade plus and sending me off with good wishes—and stock options!—when I decided to make the leap to full-time writing (in March 2020…but that’s another story).
When I finally (FINALLY) finished The Favorites, I had a feeling it was something special. But the book’s publishing journey so far has exceeded even my most delusional expectations. Caitlin McKenna, you were the first editor I spoke to during my whirlwind submission/birthday week, and by the end of our chat I was pretty damn sure you were the one. Every day we’ve worked together has proven that initial gut instinct 100 percent correct. You and Kaiya make the ultimate dream team, and if they gave gold medals for editing, you’d both deserve to stand on top of the podium. Much gratitude also to Noa Shapiro for all your expertise and badass organizational skills; this has been the smoothest, calmest publishing experience of my career, and I know that is in no small part because of your hard work behind the scenes!
To the rest of the team at Random House—Andy Ward, Rachel Rokicki, Ben Greenberg, Alison Rich, Erica Gonzalez, Rebecca Berlant, Benjamin Dreyer, Robert Siek, Windy Dorresteyn, Madison Dettlinger, Keilani Lum, Maria Braeckel, Rachel Ake, Denise Cronin, Sandra Sjursen, Caroline Cunningham, and Pamela Feinstein—thank you for the incredibly warm welcome, and for all you have done and will do to make The Favorites a success. I am beyond thrilled to be a Random House author, and I hope we’ll be working together on many more books to come. Also thrilled (or should I say chuffed?) to be publishing in the U.K. with the legendary Chatto & Windus, so massive thanks to Kaiya Shang, Clara Farmer, and the entire team there.
Thank you to Lauren Abramo for filling my book’s passport with plenty of stamps; every time I see your name in my inbox, I do a little happy dance. Thanks as well to Gracie Freeman Lifschutz, Andrew Dugan, Nataly Gruender, Kendall Berdinsky, and everyone else at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret who works so tirelessly to make it one of the best agencies in the biz.
Thank you to my film agent, Dana Spector, and her fantastic assistants, including Eliza Jevon and Oliver Sanderson, for setting up meetings I’m still pinching myself over. Hopefully by the time this book hits shelves, I’ll no longer be sworn to secrecy about them!
Halley Sutton, thank you for believing in this book even when I didn’t, and listening to me ramble about all the different versions of it that eventually led me to this one. Thank you to my work wife/critique partner/platonic soulmate Wendy Heard, who is always right. Megan Collins, thanks for being a phenomenal agent sister and all-around cheerleader, and for always being ready to gossip in the group chat. Much love to the Young Rich Widows (aka Kimberly Belle, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie) for being the very best collaborators; I’ve learned so much from all three of you, and writing our books together kept me sane (not to mention financially solvent) while I figured out The Favorites.
To my friend/teacher/favorite good witch Andrea Hannah: I’m a different person than I was when I met you. I truly don’t know where I’d be without your guidance, and I don’t want to know. Thank you to Taylor Jenkins Reid, not only for writing novels that inspire me to keep leveling up my own skills but for your amazing research webinar, which is what made me believe I could pull off a project this ambitious in the first place. Every time I rewatched the recording or reviewed the many, many notes I took, your words gave me the boost of confidence I needed to keep going. And getting to meet you, however briefly, at the 2022 Writer’s Digest conference in Pasadena was truly one of the highlights of my life.
Wendy Walker, thank you for sharing your figure skating past with me, and for the way you’ve supported my books from the very beginning. Thank you to Danielle Earl, Jordan Cowan, and all the other photographers, videographers, and skating fans who’ve posted content that let me imagine myself rinkside even when I was locked in my house with a pandemic raging. And whoever scanned and archived all those old issues of Skating magazine…bless you, you have no idea how much nerdy joy I got out of reading them. Shout-out to my favorite skaters, including but not limited to Madison Hubbell, Kaitlyn Weaver, and Amber Glenn, for all the incredible things you do both on and off the ice. And an extra-special thanks to Jason Brown, because this book might have ended very differently if I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing you skate at Stars on Ice. I was absolutely mesmerized by your artistry and palpable joy, and I hope my own creative joy comes across in the same way to everyone who reads The Favorites.
Last but most certainly not least, heartfelt thanks to my nearest and dearest: my mother, Linda—you can actually read this one, Mom!—and my partner, Nate, who has watched more figure skating than perhaps any straight man alive. You’re really something, honey.