There will be a few dozen people inside the Floreks’ home—a big party, just like Sue would have wanted. There will be Dolly and Shania over the speakers. There will be an excess of food and beer and wine. There will be pierogies made by Julien, who bought the Tavern at a “family discount” from Charlie and Sam. There will be dozens of guests—all the people who loved Sue, including my parents, and some who didn’t get the chance to but would have, like Chantal. And there will be a flash of red hair. Because one of the hardest things I did over the last year was apologize to Delilah. I expected her to be polite but unaffected when I met her at a coffee shop in Ottawa—it was all so long ago. I didn’t expect her to circle her arms around me and ask what the hell took so long.
And later tonight, when everyone has left and it’s just Sam and me in our pj’s in the basement, there will be popcorn and a movie playing in the background and a ring in an old wooden box with my initials carved on top. It will be made from twisted threads of embroidery floss that match the faded bracelet on my wrist. And I will get down on one knee and ask Sam Florek to be with me. To be my family. Forever.
Acknowledgments
In July of 2020, I decided to write a book. This had long been an ambition of mine, but one I shoved deep in the caverns of my heart and mind. I didn’t think I’d ever get around to doing it, and I was convinced that if I did try, I wouldn’t be able to finish it. Besides, I was an editor—my job for fifteen years had been to help make other writers’ words shine. But that summer the pandemic had me asking Big Life Questions, and I decided not to put it off any longer. I gave myself two goals: to draft a novel by the end of the year and to make it good—not perfect but something I was proud of. I didn’t know that writing Every Summer After would be the most satisfying project I’d ever undertaken. I didn’t know that it would bring me such joy during difficult times. And I didn’t know that it would become an actual book and myself an author along with it. For that, I have many people to thank.
The first is Taylor Haggerty, my dream agent. I fought back tears when Taylor offered to represent me. She is a true superhero, one who comes equipped with sharp instincts, impeccable editorial judgment, and endless patience for a rookie novelist with a lot of questions. There is no one I’d rather partner with on this journey. Taylor, thank you for believing in me and this book.
From our first conversation, I felt Amanda Bergeron was meant to be my editor. I will be forever grateful （and a little gobsmacked） because that’s exactly what happened. Amanda and I were both pregnant while we worked on Every Summer After, and I love that we brought it into the world along with two tiny new humans. Amanda, thank you for your bottomless passion for Percy and Sam’s story and for everything you’ve done to bring it to life.
I was gifted with the talent and guidance of a second brilliant editor, Deborah Sun de la Cruz. Deborah, thank you for your whip-smart line edits and for rallying the Canadian troops around the book. I am incredibly fortunate to have you on my team.
To Sareer Khader, Ivan Held, Christine Ball, Claire Zion, Jeanne-Marie Hudson, Craig Burke, Jessica Brock, Diana Franco, Brittanie Black, Bridget O’Toole, Vi-An Nguyen, Megha Jain, Ashley Tucker, Christine Legon, Angelina Krahn, and the sales team at Berkley, as well as Jasmine Brown and the Root Literary team: Thank you for your enthusiasm for this book and for your hard work in putting it out into the world.
Thank you to Nicole Winstanley, Bonnie Maitland, Beth Cockeram, Dan French, and Emma Ingram at Penguin Canada for giving both myself and Every Summer After a loving home in Canada. Thank you also to Heather Baror-Shapiro for making Every Summer After a truly global book. And to Anna Boatman and the team at Piatkus for bringing the novel to the UK, New Zealand, and my other homeland, Australia.
To Ashley Audrain and Karma Brown, thank you for your astonishing kindness, support, and invaluable words of wisdom in navigating the publishing world and life as an author.
Meredith Marino, Courtney Shea, and Maggie Wrobel: Thank you for being my earliest readers and for your insightful feedback （on my two-week deadline, no less!）。 I am lucky to count such brilliant, encouraging women as friends. In the early stages of writing, I sent Meredith the first ten pages of the manuscript, and she promised to be honest with me about what she thought. Very soon after, I got a text from her that read: “I think you’re going to be a real author!!!!!!!!!!!” Meredith, you were right, as usual. Thank you for giving me the confidence to carry on.