The Receptionist (24 page)

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

IN THE WRITING
of any book the author racks up debts of gratitude for help of one kind or another, and my case is no exception. First and foremost is the debt I owe to my late, brilliant collaborator on three Edmund Wilson books, David Castronovo. During the ten enjoyable years we put our heads together over Wilson, David’s surgical wit, his gift for brevity, and his example made me a better writer. He loved this book. His last gift to me was the devoted circle of his admirers, who, led by his sister Val and her family, have rallied around it too.

Among
New Yorker
writers, past and present, who saw early chapters and lent valuable comment and support were Henry Cooper, Gerry Jonas, Wally White, Lis Harris, Anthony Bailey, and Calvin Trillin. Family members and friends were generous in their praise and helpful in getting the facts right, especially my brother and his wife, Joe and Nancy Groth, and two cousins, Karen Steinberg and Doreen Finnesgaard. Special thanks for guidance on early drafts to Elizabeth Guyer Ebel, Ivy Bannister, Margaret Tully, Jalana Lazar, Corey Lazar, Annie-B Parson, Gene Gill, Mary Rose Main, Mary McNamara, Leslie Davis,
Th
easa Tuohy, Susannah and Mac Talley, Gretchen Shine, Liz Bowman, Marcia Schlaff, Ann Tracy, Elsa Solender, and Yasuko Hatano-Collier.

My agent Carolyn Larson gave me unwavering support and the invaluable gift of placing the manuscript with Amy Gash, senior editor par excellence at Algonquin Books. In her nurturing hands it has grown from its initial embryonic shape into the full-fledged
Receptionist
you see before you.
Th
e midwife who gave our new delivery a life-giving pat on the back was Elisabeth Scharlatt, Algonquin’s publisher. To the art, production, and promotion departments, especially the designer of the jacket and Megan Fishmann, I owe the attractive packaging and the promotional boost that sends her forth looking her best. My thanks to all.

Published by

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Post Office Box 2225

Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225

a division of

Workman Publishing

225 Varick Street

New York, New York 10014

© 2012 by Janet Groth. All rights reserved.

The following were first published elsewhere in slightly different form: “Homage to Mister Berryman” appeared in the
New England Review,
Volume 29, Number 3, 2008. It was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won honorable mention in the Pushcart Prize volume, 2008.

“Lunching with Joe” appeared in
Southwest Review,
Volume 93, Number 4, 2008.

eISBN 9781616201586