Reconstructing Amelia (39 page)

Acknowledgments

My deepest gratitude to my agent and personal superhero, Marly Rusoff, the most compassionate and dedicated advocate an author could hope for. I can’t thank you enough for standing by me through this book’s many iterations, and those of the manuscripts that came before it. To Michael Radulescu, for all your help and your much-appreciated levity; and Julie Mosow, a keen editor, a great creative partner, and a wonderful friend.

To my amazing editor, Claire Wachtel, your incomparable insights have improved not only this book but also me as a writer. Working with you has been an honor. Thank you to Jonathan Burnham for giving me this incredible opportunity. Thanks also to Elizabeth Perrella and everyone in HarperCollins’s marketing and sales departments for your enthusiasm and all of your hard work on my behalf.

To Megan Crane, thank you for leading by example, for always being willing to read yet another draft, for telling me the truth when it mattered, and for lying to me when I needed you to. Most important, thank you for your remarkable friendship. Without you to talk about writing and life with over the years, this sometimes harrowing journey would have ended a long time ago.

Thank you to Victoria Cook, for her excellent cheerleading and for swooping in to save the day so many times. To Elena Evangelo, for her warmth and boundless optimism; and to Cara Cragan for her faith.

Thank you to my dedicated readers and precious friends whose feedback and encouragement have been invaluable: Cindy Buzzeo, Heather Frattone, Nicole Kear, and Tara Pometti.

To the very many of you out there who offered such generous words of encouragement over the past decade—Catherine and David Bohigian, the Cragan family, the Crane family, Jeremy Creelan, Joe and Naomi Daniels, Larry and Suzy Daniels, Charmaine De Grate, Dave and Joannie Fischer, David Kear, Merrie Koehlert, Hallie Levin, Brian and Laura Mayer, Diane Mehta, Brian McCreight, the Metzger Family, Jason Miller, Sarah Moore, Frank Pometti, Jon Reinish, the Thomatos Family, the members of my very talented Park Slope writer’s group, and everyone else I’ve forgotten—thank you for believing in me, especially at those moments when I no longer believed in myself.

Thank you also to my parents, stepparents, and family, as well as the Prentices—Martin, Clare, Becky, Mike, and Steve—whom I feel so very lucky to call my family now, too.

To my husband, Tony, this book is truly yours as much as it is mine. Without you, I never would have had the courage to write a single word, much less the hope to see it through. Thank you for your generosity and your honesty, your patience and your belief. Thank you for making me laugh, for challenging me to think, and for making me feel understood. I could not ask for a more incredible husband and best friend.

And to my own perfectly perfect girls. Thank you, Harper, for your amazing empathy, outstanding hugs, and for telling me that you were proud of me on days when it felt like no one was. Thank you, Emerson, for standing printer-side, counting pages, for telling me that you want to be an artist someday, and for your incredible smile, which could lighten even the darkest day. Know that no matter how big you girls get, no matter where you go, or who you grow into, I will always love the whole of each of you, without reservation. And your secrets, whatever they end up being, will forever be safe with me.

About the Author

Kimberly McCreight attended Vassar College and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After working as a litigation associate at some of New York City’s biggest law firms, she left the practice of law to write full-time. Her work has appeared in such publications as
Antietam Review
,
Oxford Magazine
, and
Babble
. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and two daughters.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Credits

Cover design by Oliver Munday

Cover photograph © jenlinfieldphotography/Getty Images

Copyright

RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA.
Copyright © 2013 by Kimberly McCreight. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, and places, and all dialogue and incidents portrayed in this book, are the product of the author’s imagination.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-0-06-222543-6

EPUB Edition APRIL 2013 ISBN 9780062225450

13 14 15 16 17  
OV/RRD
  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1