Much appreciation to Zaynui Nagji for his sharing his expertise on the game of cricket and making sure I didn’t make a fool of myself. Gratitude also to his daughter, Anushka Azadi, for connecting us. Many thanks, too, to Peter Quartermain for sharing his love and knowledge of the game and for helping me to make the language of the cricket passages flow.

Many thanks to Kirsten Emiko McAllister and Nadine Chambers for brief but meaningful conversations about this book, and to Yilin Wang for her generous assistance in thinking through how to handle transliterations.

Rivers of appreciation to the ever-generous Brian Lam for publishing this book and those that came before it. I thank him so much for his ongoing belief in me and my work.

Catharine Chen was an incisive and thorough editor. I thank her for her sharp eye, brilliant attention to narrative logic, and thoughtful, generous critiques.

Appreciation to Rebecca Rosenblum for a careful and intelligent copy edit. Great thanks to Alison Strobel for her eagle eye in proofreading.

Thank you to the talented and generous Jazmin Welch for the beautiful cover and elegant interior design. I really appreciated her willingness to take my suggestions on board and develop them in her own original and creative ways.

Many thanks to Cynara Geissler and Jaiden Dembo their excellent work in publicity—that includes the work they’ve already done (they started early!) and all the work that I know will happen after this book is born. I appreciate the care, wisdom, and hard work that goes into all they do.

Appreciation as ever to Robert Ballantyne for all his work in distribution.

Thank you to my parents, Tyrone Lai and Yuen-Ting Lai, for their generous storytelling and their forbearance with the way I do things. They’ve seen so many changes in their lives—not least the changes in the relationship between what is possible to say and what is better left unsaid. Thanks also to Mom for her last-minute fact checking and bestowal of precious details, like the kinds of boats Violet sees when she looks down onto Victoria Harbour from the Peak.

Gratitude as always to my sister, Wendy Lai, and her partner, Karel Maršálek.

Edward, sorry about the giant mess, especially the book towers in the middle of the living room floor.

Though many people were generous with advice and support for this book, any errors, omissions, or missteps are my own.

Notes on Spelling, Transliteration, Naming, and Language