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Back How to Disappear Completely Save as PDF
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. About the Author
  57. Back Ad
  58. About the Publisher

The lights illuminate the snowflakes that have begun to fall faster and faster. People are looking up and pointing. Fina tries to catch a snowflake on her tongue, and suddenly everybody—even Ruth—is laughing and clapping their hands like little kids.

Snowflakes land on the ground. On noses and ears and eyelashes and cheeks.

The entire world is suddenly dappled with white.

And it is magical.

Acknowledgments

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This book starts and ends with Aki Laakso. Thank you for inspiring this story, and for encouraging me to write it when I wasn’t sure I could. Your strength, determination, optimism, and—above all—your kind heart have made you a wonderful husband, and I know they will make you the best father a kid could ask for.

Thanks to Sarah Davies and Polly Nolan for their enthusiasm for this book, their never-ending well of patience and support. I am prouder than ever to be part of the Greenhouse family.

To Alyson Day for giving this story a home and for her confidence in me to tell it. Thank you for all the passion you poured into this book! That goes for the whole team at HarperCollins: Megan Ilnitzki, Manny Blasco, Jon Howard, Laura Mock, Joel Tippie, Emma Meyer, and Aubrey Churchward. Thank you for all your dedicated work to make this story into a real live book.

To Yaoyao Ma Van As for creating a spellbindingly beautiful cover that captures the essence of Emma’s soul and her story.

Special thanks to those who lent their time, experience, and expertise to show me how to write this story in the best way I could. To Dr. Edith Bowers for taking the time outside the office to read and offer me her feedback, and for taking such good care of her patients inside it. To Dr. John Harris for reading, for patiently answering all my many questions, and for being an incredible resource and advocate for those in the vitiligo community. To Julia Lodewick, Aki Laakso, and Jesica Perez for lending me their wisdom and sharing their life experiences to help me craft the characters in this book. And to my beta readers, each of whom made critiques and suggestions that were instrumental in transforming this manuscript into a novel, and each of whom has become an inspiration to me in her own right: Kristin Gray, Supriya Kelkar, Tae Keller, Jen Petro-Roy, and last but never least, Nancy Ruth Patterson.

To the Cramp for being a combination of writing critique/support group, and wonderful people to boot: Paige Nguyen, Keith Dupuis, Christie-Sue Cheeley, Scott Reintgen, Emmalea Couch, and Kwame Mbalia.

Finally to Mom, who continues to read every piece I write and offer thoughtful feedback on them all. And to Dad, who always gets around to it eventually, and always lets me know he’s proud when he does. You guys are pretty great.

About the Author

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Photo by Aki Laakso