To E.W.
acknowledgments
I am happy to be reunited with my editor, David Ebershoff, who has guided me through many love stories super sad and true and has excised his share of big and little failures in my prose.
Random has been my House for five books now and I would like to thank the many people inside that tall, friendly tower who have read and promoted by work, starting with Andy Ward and Robin Desser, who both helped steer this boat when it was still taking on water. And huge thanks to Gina Centrello, Avideh Bashirrad, Maria Braeckel, Denise Cronin, Barbara Fillon, Ruth Liebmann, Leigh Marchant, Carrie Neill, Darryl Oliver, Paolo Pepe, and Melissa Sanford.
Denise Shannon has been my agent for over two decades and is always the first to read my work with a kind but critical eye. I thank her and the other helpful readers of this book: Doug Choi, Dr. Jonathan Gross, Paul La Farge, Krys Lee, Suketu Mehta, Sarah Stern, Ming Loong Teo, and Alex Turner-Polish. James Baluyut guided me through the making of Ed’s vitello tonnato, which I highly recommend.