The first example of a supper club I could find was the Vaudeville Club from 1893. A group of society gentlemen, including Stanford White, founded a private supper club inside New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House while it was being renovated after a fire. This club would later transform into the Metropolitan Opera Club, which still operates today.

Madame Durham is based on several Black opera singers and performers of the Gilded Age, including Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones and Marie Selika Williams. The first African American to sing at Carnegie Hall (then called the Music Hall in New York), Jones was the highest paid Black performer of her day, and she ended up performing for four American presidents as well as British royalty. Williams was the first Black artist to perform in the White House, and while in Europe she performed for Queen Victoria in 1883.

There are so many people I would like to thank here, but space constraints are a real thing. So to all the romance readers, bloggers, booksellers and librarians—you make writing a pleasurable endeavor when life gets very difficult. I am incredibly thankful for all of you! Your clever tweets and beautiful bookstagram posts never fail to make me smile.

I love, love, love to work on these stories with my editor, Tessa Woodward. She is as much a fan of the Gilded Age as I am, and she helps me fine-tune these crazy historical plots and characters into something that (hopefully!) makes sense. So thank you, Tessa! Also, my heartfelt thanks to everyone at HarperCollins/Avon for all their hard work on my books, including Elle Keck, Jes Lyons, Sam Glatt, Alivia Lopez, Angela Craft, Guido Caroti and the rest of the folks behind the scenes.

Where would I be without the friends who help pick me up whenever I need it? Diana Quincy deserves some sort of medal for putting up with me, as do Sarah MacLean and Sophie Jordan (whose brilliant mind suggested a kissing lessons book!). I am beyond grateful for the wit, wisdom and support of these three ladies. Thank you also to Lenora Bell, Eva Leigh, Nisha Sharma (keep those book recs coming!) and the other writer friends who make me laugh and smile every day (you know who you are!).

I have to give a special shout-out to my softball partner-in-crime Damita (aka TeamBossBabe), who will never see this but deserves my gratitude all the same. Without her help in managing our daughters’ crazy softball schedules, I would legit never finish a book.

Lastly, thanks to my mom, who reads all my stories first, and the rest of my family for their support. Also, I could never do this without the husband who gladly makes dinner, does laundry, cleans and deals with everything else in equal measure, giving me time to write when I need it. Indeed, I am the lady who got lucky.