But writing this book wasn’t all glitter and gold: I’d always had this fantasy that somehow, if the world shut down and I had nothing to do but write, it would be easier to finish a novel. Well, be careful what you wish for. I started this novel in the summer of 2020, when the world had indeed shut down. I soon realized that it’s the balance of life and writing that makes creativity possible. I never realized how much I fed off of the normal rhythm of my days until that rhythm was disrupted. I took for granted seeing my friends—especially my author friends—at dinners out and book events where we commiserated and shared notes and supported one another. I don’t know what I would have done the past year and a half without my Thursday Zoom crew: Fiona Davis, Susie Orman Schnall, Lynda Cohen Loigman, Amy Poeppel, Nicola Harrison, and Suzanne Leopold.

To my daughters, Georgia and Bronwen, you handled a time of change and loss with grace and fortitude. I love you and I’m proud of you.

A special thank-you to the booksellers and readers who have been with me on this journey. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Finally, thank you to my husband. In the very dark days of spring 2020, you brought me to live in a bright and hopeful place so that I could write this novel: Provincetown. You turned what could have been a disaster into something beautiful. You always do. And I love you for it.

About the Author

Jamie Brenner is the author of six novels, including Blush and The Forever Summer. She grew up in suburban Philadelphia on a steady diet of Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz novels, and later moved to New York City to live like the heroines of her favorite books. Jamie now divides her time between Philadelphia and Provincetown.

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