A number of kindhearted and patient individuals agreed to be interviewed for a work of fiction—no small act of trust—and gave of their time to explain many difficult things to me. Thanks to Linda Ashton, Ana Bolivar, James Calver, Ben Cosgrove, Lacy Crawford, Christopher Duffy, Alexa du Pont, Stuart Ellman, Chris Gaito, Shinhee Han, Alex Hungate, Brian Kelly, Lisa Kevorkian, Alex Kinmont, Hali Lee, Jin Lee, Dr. John Mastrobattista, Christopher Mansfield, Anthony Perna, Dr. Mary Rivera-Casamento, Catherine Salisbury, and Ginee Seo.
I am deeply grateful for the friendship of Lynn Ahrens, Jonathan Angles, Harold Augenbraum, Shawn Behlen, Susan Berger Ellman, Ayesha Bulchandani-Mathrani, Kitty Burke, Lauren Cerand, Alison and Peter Davies, Steven Fetherhuff, Sam George, Susan Guerrero, Sarah Glazer and Fred Khedouri, Wendi Kaufman, Henry Kellerman, Robin Kelly, Wendy Lamb, Diane Middlebrook, Nancy Miller, Tony and Sue O’Connor, David and Michael Ouimette, Kyongsoo Paik, Jennifer Peck, Lois Perelson-Gross, Peter Petre, Sharon Pomerantz, Iris San Guiliano, Angella Son, Sally Steenland, Lauren Kunkler Tang, Jeannette Watson Sanger, Kamy Wicoff, and Donna and Neil Wilcox.
I’d like to thank Speer Morgan and Evelyn Somers of The Missouri Review, Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenks of Narrative Magazine, Quang Bao of the Asian American Writers Workshop, and the New York Foundation for the Arts for their invaluable support.
I am indebted to Elizabeth Cuthrell for her intelligence, encouragement, and goodness. Robin Marantz Henig has taught me much about literary excellence and artistic community through her work and life. Elizabeth and Robin gave me a book when I didn’t have one. Bob Ouimette has offered solace in the writing of this work and continually teaches me about the meaning of friendship. Thanks to Rosey Grandison, whose love and labor permitted me to write. It was Dionne Bennett who saw this book first and whose love and insights have been indispensable to me since we were girls. Dionne, you made me believe that it was possible. Thanks to my family for their love, sacrifice, and faithfulness.
And finally, my darling Christopher and Sam: You are my sunshine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MIN JIN LEE went to Yale, where she was awarded both the Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the Veech Prize for Fiction. She has received the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction, the Peden Prize from the Missouri Review for Best Story, and the Narrative Prize for New and Emerging Writer. Her work has also been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts and anthologized in To Be Real （Doubleday, 1995） and Breeder （Seal Press, 2001）。 She lives in New York with her husband and son.