Home to Big Stone Gap (27 page)

Acknowledgments

Gregory D. Cantrell was my first writing teacher and a Renaissance man, mountain style. When I was growing up in Big Stone Gap, the outside world seemed galaxies away, but Mr. Cantrell brought it into the classroom. He was hip, cutting edge, funny, and wise, and a champion to his students. He died on November 30, 2004, at the age of fifty-five. He adored his wife, Sue, and his children, Stephen, Emily, David, and Daniel. I owe my start as a writer to him.

At mighty Random House, with bells and whistles I thank Gina Centrello and her dynamic and talented team: my wonderful editor, Jennifer Hershey; the superb Laura Ford; the great Kim Hovey; my magnificent publicist, Kate Blum; the world’s best production editor, Beth Pearson; and the brilliant designer, Robin Schiff. More gratitude to: Libby McGuire, Tom Perry, Megan Fishmann, Tatiana Sayig, Camille Dewing-Vallejo, Grant Neumann, Rachel Bernstein, Georgia Liebman, Sanyu Dillon, Jane Von Mehren, Joelle Dieu, Carol Schneider, Cindy Murray, Allyson Pearl (nobody works harder), Stacey Witcraft, Vicki Wong, Christine Cabello, Avideh Bashirrad, Beth Thomas, Jack Perry, Stacy Rockwood-Chen, and Alyson Forbes.

At Random Audio, thank you to Amanda D’Acierno and my fabulous producer on seven recordings, Sherry Huber, and her team of Lynn Lauber and Aaron Blank.

At William Morris, my love and thanks to the lovely powerhouse Suzanne Gluck and the equally lovely Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, as well as to Cara Stein, Eugenie Furniss, Leora Bloch Rosenberg, Georgia Cool, Mac Hawkins, Judith Berger, Raffaella DeAngelis, Andy McNichol, Tracy Fisher, Candace Finn, Michelle Feehan, Caroline Michel, Alice Ellerby, Alicia Gordon, Lindsey Shapiro, Lauren Heller Whitney, Lisa Grubka, Bari Zibrak, and Rowan Lawton. My thanks to my longtime beloved friend and agent Nancy Josephson, Jill Holwager, Ellen Sushko, Richie Kern, and Josh Meltzer.

Thank you in the land of movies to the fabulous Susan Cartsonis and Roz Weisberg of StoreFront Pictures, the wonderful Julie Durk, and the great Lou Pitt.

Thank you, Allison Roche, my amazing assistant. For the scrumptious recipes and testing of those dishes, thank you, Cindy Ashley, Craig Fissé, Iva Lou Daugherty Johnson, Shorty Johnson, Margie Mabe, and Karen Kilgore Hall.

My gratitude to the glorious pond leapers: Ian Chapman, Suzanne Baboneau, Rochelle Venables, and the irrepressible and irreplaceable Nigel Stoneman. Thank you to my team in South Africa: Jonathan Ball, Anika Ebrahim, and Jane Rankin. In magical Scotland, thank you to Fiona Christie and Elly Rothnie. Marjory Clark, your architectural knowledge was so helpful. Julie Roche, thank you for your nursing expertise.

Michael Patrick King, thank you for your massive and available shoulders. More gratitude and love to Larry Sanitsky, Todd Doughty, Jake and Jean Morrissey, Meryl Poster, and Lee Boudreaux.

Ann Godoff, thank you for opening the door to my literary career.

Elena Nachmanoff and Dianne Festa, I owe you each a big purse. More undying gratitude to Mary Testa, Thomas Dyja, Sister Karol Jackowski, Debra McGuire, Ruth Pomerance, Wiley Hausam, Brownie Polly III, Richard and Dana Kirshenbaum, Ellen Tierney and Jack Hodgins.

And my thanks and love to the people of Big Stone Gap, my family and friends, whom I treasure beyond any words I could write herein.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A
DRIANA
T
RIGIANI
is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. The author of the bestselling Big Stone Gap series and the
New York Times
bestselling novels
Lucia, Lucia, The Queen of the Big Time,
and
Rococo,
she has been published in twenty-two countries around the world. Trigiani has written the screenplay for the movie
Big Stone Gap,
which she will also direct. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter and can be reached at
www.adrianatrigiani.com
.

ALSO BY ADRIANA TRIGIANI

FICTION

Big Stone Gap

Big Cherry Holler

Milk Glass Moon

Lucia, Lucia

The Queen of the Big Time

Rococo

NONFICTION

Cooking with My Sisters
(co-author)

Home to Big Stone Gap
is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by The Glory of Everything Company

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

R
ANDOM
H
OUSE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Trigiani, Adriana.

Home to Big Stone Gap: a novel / Adriana Trigiani.

p. cm.

1. Big Stone Gap (Va.)—Fiction. 2. Mountain life—Fiction.

3. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

PS3570.R459R48 2006

803'.54—dc22                                             2006049301

www.atrandom.com

eISBN: 978-1-58836-563-7

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