Then there are those to thank for various reasons. Thank you, Harlan Greene for your excellent advice I took to heart and tried very hard to adhere to. Thanks to Martin and Toni McKerrow of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, for their amazing hospitality and also to my writer pal Elin Hilderbrand for her insanely wonderful blurb for this book. I owe you one! Thanks to Judy Linder, my great cousin, for helping find fun bee facts and connecting them to the chapters and huge thanks to my fabulous daughter, Victoria Frank Peluso, for so many things I can’t even remember them all—help with proofing, bee facts, social media, brainstorming, and for our first children’s book, a true collaborative effort, Teddy Spaghetti, which we hope will be published in the summer of 2020 by the children’s imprint of HarperCollins. And it should be obvious to Margaret Anastas, our children’s editor, that we love her to bits. Yes, we do. Victoria and I are super excited to work with you.

And heading over to the floors of William Morrow, let’s start with Carrie Feron, my fearless editor, the one I adore. Our fifteenth book together? Where does the time go? Your thoughts, ideas, and advice always bring me to a richer and more satisfying story for the enjoyment of so many others and I am deeply grateful for all of it. And I am also seriously grateful to Asanté Simons, assistant extraordinaire to my fearless editor, for the endless questions she answers and the many things she does to keep me above water. And let us not forget to blow a kiss to Michael Kelly! No reason. Just blowing kisses.

To the William Morrow team: Brian Murray, Liate Stehlik, Kelly Rudolph, Julie Paulauski, Kathryn Gordon, Kate Hudkins, Lisa Sharkey and the whole team at Studio 16, Frank Albanese, Virginia Stanley, Andrea Rosen, Josh Marwell, Andy LeCount, Carla Parker, Donna Waikus, Michael Morris, Rachel Levenberg, Gabe Barillas, Andrea Molitor, copyeditor Greg Villepique, Jennifer Hart, Rachel Levinger, Nyamekye Waliyaya, Suzanne Mitchell, and last but Lawsa not least, Brian Grogan: thank you one and all for all the miracles, and for your amazing support. And to our new secret weapon, Gretchen Koss of Tandem Literary. Girl? You killed it last year! Let’s do it again!

Speaking of powerhouses? Deep bows and many curtsies to genius, Suzanne Gluck, my agent at WME, and Andrea Blatt, of course! Many thanks to Michelle Feehan of New York and Matilda Forbes Watson, London. And thanks to Sylvie Rabineau and Hilary Zaitz Michael of WME Los Angeles. Y’all are the best!

Let us not forget Patti Morrison, my book tour buddy who keeps me out of trouble. Well, mostly. Anyway, many thanks for your excellent friendship and humor!